Last week Apple released a security update, addressing more than 50 security holes in its Mac OS X and other software.

The patches apply to Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.5, Java for Mac and Safari for Windows, are available from the downloads area of Apple's website or via automatic updates.

As always, our advice is for users to take prompt action and roll out these patches at the earliest opportunity. Companies like Apple and Microsoft do not announce security vulnerabilities for the fun of it - they issue advisories and patches in order to better protect their users from internet and hacker attacks.

One security vulnerability reportedly addressed by the patches, which has had internet users keenly waiting for a fix since the problem was revealed last month, addresses a serious bug in Apple's Safari web browser, affecting Windows XP, Vista and Apple Mac users, which could have been exploited by hackers to gain access to any file on your hard drive.