Microsoft’s July 2026 Patch Tuesday is one of the biggest on record, with a massive 570 bug and security fixes landing on your Windows, Microsoft 365 and Office machines. One buried fix is critical: a BitLocker bypass that let thieves open an encrypted drive without your password or recovery key. Here’s what to patch, when to patch, and the one update you should not skip.
The rise isn’t because hackers have been especially active. Microsoft says that their use of AI means they’ve been able to find and fix more bugs in their products than ever before.
That sounds great, but hackers also have access to AI so they can use similar tools to find and exploit bugs in Windows, Microsoft 365 and other software. Criminals will use the Patch Tuesday information to hack into unpatched computers.
Microsoft is aware of this and recommends customers update their machines within three days of update release. In other words, by the following Friday.
That sounds sensible but overlooks another problem created by AI … the increasing unreliability of Microsoft’s update and support systems. Microsoft has dumped staff and relies on AI which has led to an increase in problems caused by the company’s patches. Fewer support staff means bug reports aren’t properly or speedily dealt with.
Little wonder many customers and IT admins are cautious about quickly updating Windows or Microsoft 365. There’s a good case for waiting a week or more so that any problems with the latest fixes can appear and be handled, albeit later than they should be.
Our patching advice
Our general advice about Microsoft patches remains the same.
- Don’t rush, let other people be Microsoft’s unpaid software testers.
- Don’t wait too long either. Waiting too long to update gives hackers an opportunity.
When you’re ready, use the update options to download the latest updates, though the automatic updates might beat you to it.
- Windows – Settings | Windows Update
- Microsoft 365 and Office – File | Account | Update Options | Update Now.
BitLocker bypass closed
The most important bug fix is somewhat lost in the tsunami of patches.
Anyone with a BitLocker protected drive, and that’s most Windows users, should get this update. Without it, any stolen laptop or computer is easy pickings for criminals.
The bug is an incredibly simple way to access a BitLocker encrypted drive without the password or recovery key. For years Microsoft has boasted that if a computer is stolen, no one can access the BitLocker encrypted data. Turned out that wasn’t true and the bypass is very easy.
The huge BitLocker hole is closed with update Windows BitLocker Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability
Microsoft uses classic understatement to describe this bug, “Protection mechanism failure in Windows BitLocker allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature with a physical attack”.
And Microsoft rates this bug as just “Important” not the highest “Critical” rating.
Patches are available for Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows Server 2016-2025. No fix for earlier versions of Windows that have BitLocker, e.g. Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1.
Microsoft 365 and Office patches
Looking at the long list of bug fixes for Microsoft 365 or Office apps:
Excel has the most patches with 34 in total, all rated “Important”
Office generally has 9 “Critical” updates and another 18 “Important”.
Word has 3 “Critical” and 9 “Important” fixes.
PowerPoint has only 3 bug fixes, but all are rated “Critical”.
Microsoft 365 Copilot has one “Critical” update.
OneNote has just one “Important” update.
Outlook Copilot has a single “Moderate” update.
In addition, there are a whopping 368 Windows related bug fixes spread across many different names such as “Windows Kernel” (35) and “Windows NTFS” (24). Many of these patches will affect the security of any software running on Windows, including Office.
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