Fretless Consulting logo  

Microsoft Updates

Upgrading to Windows XP

We recommend upgrading to Windows XP for improved security, performance, and maintainability. Microsoft has provided tools on their website to verify that your computer can be safely upgraded.

Windows Updates

Microsoft is constantly updating Windows and their other software products, such as Microsoft Office. They add features, fix bugs, and patch security vulnerabilities. These updates are being released almost daily, and can often fix or prevent many problems that people are having on their computers. The problem is: how are we supposed to keep up with all these changes?

The good news is that there is an easy way to update Windows and Office. Actually, there are several.

  1. Windows Update Website
  2. Automatic Updates
  3. Office Update Website
Windows Update Website

Microsoft has a Windows Update website where you can go to detect and install the latest critical and non-critical updates. You should do this periodically to keep your computer up to date on all the latest patches and features.

Automatic Updates

Windows includes a feature called Automatic Updates that runs in the background and automatically lets you know when there are new Windows updates to install.

When you have this feature enabled, you will see an icon in the Notification area of your toolbar whenever there are updates to install.  (The Notification area is located at the far right end of your Taskbar, right next to the clock). Just click the icon when it appears and follow the directions to install the updates.

For detailed information on setting up and using this feature, read this article from the Microsoft website.

Office Updates

Microsoft has a Office Update website very similar to the Windows Update website. Office is also being updated constantly, fixing bugs, adding features, and patching security problems. Unfortunately, they don't have an Automatic Office Update feature to automatically check for updates, so you have to periodically go to the website and check for them yourself. Maybe in the future...

Resources

Contact Us: Call (510) 814-9906 or E-mail
Copyright © 2002-2009
Fretless Consulting
Best viewed with Internet Explorer 6.0