If you own a computer, part of keeping it running well and smoothly is to keep all of its software current and up to date. Software upgrades, driver upgrades, security patches and more need to be installed when available to keep your computer safe and running great. You will also need to update your anti virus and anti spyware software regularly, as well as update your firewall, and even update things like your instant messengers.
Updating all of your software can seem like a huge task, but it is not a difficult task once you get used to the procedure and know what to look for. Here's how:
The first thing to remember is to update your computer as often as you can when new updates are available. Unless the planets align correctly once in a million years, though, you will not find that every single piece of software installed on your hard drive has a critical update that must be attended to at any one time, all at once. So even if you have a lot of programs, you can update them as new updates come out, and only end up spending a few minutes or more on it at any given time. This is much less overwhelming, and lets you get back to the business of using your computer quickly and easily.
The basic updates that must absolutely be made are Windows updates, anti virus updates, anti spyware updates and firewall updates. As far as Windows updates go, you should absolutely be installing any new critical updates that come out, as these are updates that are designed to fix security issues. These keep your computer safe, so when a critical update is made available, go ahead and update as soon as you can. You can set your computer to update Windows automatically or you can do it manually by going to the website and checking yourself.
Anti virus updates should be made regularly, and you should check for new updates prior to running a virus scan, even if you just did an update a couple of days ago. Updates to your anti virus let your program know about new threats to look for and will keep your computer clean. The same goes for your anti spyware software, since anti spyware software looks for a different type of threat, usually, than anti virus software does. Regular updates keep your system clean and safe.
As far as your firewall goes, it will likely prompt you to download a new version whenever one becomes available. It's a good idea to do that when you get that prompt, but if you do not get a prompt for a real long time, you can always go to the manufacturer's website to see if you missed one and update from there.
