The October cumulative security update for Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 is available on Windows Update. It fixes one publicly known vulnerability and 14 potentially dangerous vulnerabilities that were reported in time before they were publicly disclosed. An update to Adobe Flash Player for Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 8.1 was also released. If you're set to install updates automatically, you don't need to take any action.
ActiveX filtering
As I wrote earlier, Internet Explorer started blocking outdated ActiveX controls. In a month, this will also apply to Silverlight, if you don't have its latest version, which is 5.1.30514.0. Silverlight is updated via Windows Update, so you don't need to take any action if you're set to automatically install updates. Otherwise, it’s update number 2977218.
Clearer search
I use search from the address bar on a regular basis, but when someone (who doesn't use Visual Studio or PowerShell every day) sees me working on a computer, they usually ask me how I do it to search so quickly. To teach the general public to use this method of searching, the modified page about:Tabs should be used (it is good to have it set as your homepage, because then your browser starts quickly). It contains a distinct search box. When you start typing in it, it directs you to the address bar. Here’s what it looks like:
I tried to test it and I have two comments on it. First, it only works on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Second, it only appears when you have Bing set as your default search engine. After all, I tried to set Bing as my default search engine in Chrome and it didn't show me the search in the new tab either.
And how do you get to the default search provider settings? Press the (left) key of Alt and select Manage Add-ons from the Tools menu. Then just select Search Providers from the left menu.
For more information, see Security Bulletins MS14-056 and APSB11-22.