Microsoft today released a pair of emergency software updates (Redmond calls them “out-of-band” updates). Yes, that’s right folks: If you use Windows — and especially if you browse the Web with Internet Exploder Explorer – it’s once again time to update. The backstory to these patches is a bit complex, so here’s the short version: A while back, Microsoft introduced several security flaws into a set of widely-used third-party software development tools, and today it’s correcting that error by issuing an updated set of tools. Another update tries to block attackers from exploiting those weaknesses while third-party software makers figure out how to fix their code with the updated tools. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most dire and far-reaching, Eric Schultze, chief technology officer at Shavlik Technologies, said he’d put the seriousness of today’s out-of-band patch releases at an 8. “When I was at