It’s time again to install the updates for your computer. Why? When? How?
WHY
Because, despite the annoyance of checking for and installing patches and
updates, it’s still infinitely better than losing your pictures, documents,
music and email. And it’s better than being without your computer for however
long it takes to remove the infections and make it whole again. And if you learn
how to do it, it will be less intimidating and annoying when you do it again
next month. How do I know this? Besides reading about it just about every day,
almost every computer that comes into my office either infected or messed-up in
other ways is missing updates.
WHEN?
Monthly, after the 10th of the month – or when it slows down, or something
doesn’t seem right.
HOW?
1. Check for and install necessary Microsoft updates.
If your computer is configured to automatically check for and install
important updates, you may seldom need to do this step. However, almost every
month now Microsoft pushes out some update or another that needs to install by
shutting down your computer. If you see the shield on the Shutdown button, turn
off your computer and allow the updates to install. You may see them finishing
the installation the next time you start up the computer. To check for and
install Windows updates manually at any time, click Start – Windows Updates.
Click Check for Updates on the left, then install all the Important updates. I
also install most of the Optional updates.
2. Updates for plugins, add-ons and necessary basic software
We used have to go find the necessary updates for many of these programs on
a regular basis, or some would prompt when there was an update available. It was
tedious, and the process changed regularly. It was next to impossible to get
them all, particularly without installing unrelated third-party software (AKA
junk). Now we have Ninite – a program that will go out and check for updates for
certain applications, then install them without prompting you to click OK every
other minute, and *without* including junkware. If I’ve worked on your computer
in the last year or two, you probably have the Ninite installer on your
computer. If it hasn’t been updated since October of last year, it needs to be
recreated – Java 8 only comes along with the new Ninite installer. Once you have
a current Ninite installer, customized to your software, you simply need to run
it monthly – best after the 10th of the month.
3. Ninite is great, but it doesn’t cover everything. Flash will need to be
updated separately – and to complicate things further, you’ll need two different
versions. To update, you can click the pop-up notification when you see it and
follow the prompts, taking care not to allow it to install 3rd party software
like Norton or McAfee Security Scans or Google Toolbar or the dreaded ASK
toolbar. Uncheck the box that offers ANYTHING other than Flash, and it’s always
there so be sure to look for it. There are two versions of Flash, and you need
to install both. One is for Internet Explorer, and one works with Mozilla
Firefox and Google Chrome. Or, to install manually, you can go to www.adobe.com with BOTH Internet
Explorer and Firefox (not at the same time). Look for the link (currently in the
bottom-right of the Adobe home page) to install Flash, and follow the prompts –
again being sure to uncheck the box that offers 3rd party software.
4. CCleaner is tricky to update and you can get conned into installing the
wrong thing – so if you prefer, just use the version you have installed now.
Open it, click Run Cleaner (bottom right corner), then close when done. Do this
weekly.
BONUS, NOT OPTIONAL
5. Back up your data. There should be three copies of anything you don’t
want to lose; one on your computer, one on an external drive and one in online
storage. Check your external drive to be sure the files are current and the
automatic backup is working. If you don’t know how, ask. Then log into your
online backup service and check to see if the data you want to keep safe is
there.
If you’re not sure about some or any of this, let’s talk. I post
information about current updates, tips, and malware to watch out for on a
regular basis on Facebook. Follow along here: https://www.facebook.com/CathyCom
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