From the About Time Dept comes news that Microsoft realises the whole ‘issue a patch to cover a hole, knowing only a few people actually download it’ approach may be, er, flawed. CNET reports that Microsoft plans next week to outline a new security effort focused on what the company calls “securing the perimeter”. Details are thin, but appear to involve a deeper relationship with firewall providers.Watch this space. My tupennies’ worth: The Windows Update process, where your computer tells you what’s new and what needs downloading, is actually not bad. But the wordings of the messages are too nerdy, and there’s no easy way to compare what you have installed on your computer to the most salient threats. Tell the user what the problem is and what needs fixing. Give the patches names or numbers we can understand. Oh, and write better software.