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Operating System Updates

Microsoft and Apple release security patches and general fixes on a regular basis, and these should always be installed. Contrary to popular belief, they should never slow your computer down! If ever a machine is running worse with updates than it was previously, one of the updates has malfunctioned, and it should be brought to us so that we can solve the problem!

Windows XP

Windows can keep your computer up to date automatically. To configure it:

  • Open the Control Panel from the Start menu, and once inside, select Automatic Updates.
  • Ensure that the top option – “automatically keep my computer up to date” – is selected.

You can obtain updates manually via the Microsoft Update website at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Simply select the “Express” option and updates will be automatically downloaded. If your computer is especially out of date, you may have to repeat this process a couple of times, as some updates have to be installed in order.

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is configured to keep your computer up to date automatically. To verify settings or install updates manually, open the Control Panel from the right hand side of the Start menu, and once inside, select Windows Update. Hopefully, you’ll see a message that says “Windows is up to date.” Otherwise, click the Check for updates button, and once it is finished searching, click Install now. – See an example see it
To be sure that your computer is still retrieving updates automatically, click the “Change settings” button in the upper-left corner. The top option – “automatically keep my computer up to date” – should be selected.

Mac OSX


  • Open the Apple menu in the upper-left corner of the screen and select Software Update.
  • The program should automatically check for available updates (in older versions of Mac OSX, you may have to press a “check now” button). Select everything, then click Install. – See an example see it
  • Mac OSX 10.5 is configured to automatically run Software Update checks in the background.

Linux

Most major Linux distributions have an update repository that they can connect to. Typically, the program used to obtain updates is called Update Manager, and is located in the System program group.