Have you ever wondered if you should run windows updates or not? In this article we will shed some light on what windows updates are and why they are important for your computer. The world of technology is a wondrous world, but it’s far from perfection, particularly computer technology. A computer has a master program that is responsible for how other programs, applications and hardware run and interact with other things on the computer. This master program is called an operating system. Windows is an example of an operating system. Windows is often targeted by the creators of malicious software who try to find vulnerabilities in the system and create malicious software to manipulate those weaknesses. So as an ongoing effort to improve their product, Microsoft collects information about these issues and makes software patches that will fix these issues and other flaws they find. That software is essentially what your Windows updates are.

It goes without saying, that it is important to make sure that Windows is up to date. These updates often include security updates for things like Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Windows itself and other fixes. Updating Windows is very simple. Usually Windows is set up to receive notification whenever updates are available. All you have to do is double left click on the little icon that shows up on the bottom left side of the tool bar and click install once the Windows updates box shows up. There are two types of updates, there are critical updates and then there are optional updates. You want to make sure that you at least get all of the critical updates for Windows.

In case you want to manually check if your computer is up to date, go to the Start menu. On Windows Vista and Windows 7, you can type “Windows updates” in the search box. Once you see the icon for the updates, left click on it and it will take you to the Windows updates interface.

Windows Update Interface

There you will see an option on the top left corner to check for updates. The rest is pretty simple, you just have to click install updates if any are available and sit back. The Windows updates interface allows you to check for updates and also change the setting for the updates.  If you prefer Windows to check for updates at a specific time, just go to change settings and make your selection. It is recommended that you set Windows to install updates automatically so that you don’t miss crucial updates.

For Windows Xp users, you can access the Windows update interface by going to the Start menu and left clicking on all programs. You should see the Windows updates shortcut icon towards the top under “All Programs.”

Start Menu Windows Xp

Once you click on the icon and get to the Windows updates interface, Internet explorer may ask you to download something called Active-x, this is just a small program that will allow you to view the Windows updates site and download the updates. Go ahead and download the Active-X since it safe from Microsoft. Only download Active-X from sites that you can trust. Some sites may use Active-X maliciously. Once you install the Active-X you can go ahead and check for the updates. Also select the option to install the updates automatically.

Continue checking for updates and installing them until it says “Windows is up to date,” or “No critical updates found.” Making sure your computer is up to date helps to protect your computer and keep it running as it should. If Windows is not updating correctly, I recommend having that checked out. It may save you a lot of stress in the near future. Hope you found this article informative.