OPERATING SYSTEM UPDATES Operating System Updates: what are they? When you bought your computer, either you or the factory installed the Windows Operating System on it. After using it for a while you may have noticed some things could have been done better, or work faster, or perhaps you got connected to the Internet and had all these viruses and pop-up ads. Maybe someone even took control of your computer to send out a bunch or viruses, possibly even unknown to you that this happed. Microsoft recognized that some of these things were happening, so when a problem is found with Windows, they worked to fix it. In order for you to get this fix, you have to go to the Microsoft website, and download and install them. You can reach it from the Start Menu called Windows Updates. The Windows Update page. Once there, click on Scan for Updates, and it will examine your system for whatever updates it needs and give you some simple instructions on how to proceed. SECURITY UPDATES With the growth of the Internet, one thing that soon became apparent was that Windows was not (at first) designed to be very secure. Unscrupulous persons, known as hackers, found ways to invade other peoples computers over the Internet, steal information and generally causing havoc. More and more often the Windows updates came with Security fixes, to plug up these holes. This has become a continuous battle, as soon as a security hole is found, Microsoft will set to work fixing it and will then release the fixer file as a new update. Many viruses go after these security holes. Periodically, they will package up a bunch of these fixes and a number of system improvements and call it a Service Pack (SP). SP1 for Windows XP came out in 2002, SP2 came out just recently as this is written, in September 2004. A LARGE percentage of the problems that PC users have with their computers, especially viruses, already had fixer Updates available to prevent them! The Sasser and MS Blast viruses that we heard about on the news had updates available to block them, months before they became a problem for so many people. Billions of dollars was lost in repair time, for something that had already been fixed! Many, many people did not have their computers updated, so they were vulnerable to attack. Even Microsoft themselves had some of their own servers infected that had not been updated. AUTOMATIC UPDATES The cure for all of this is simply to turn on Automatic Updates. The updates are then done automatically, once a week or once a day, usually in the middle of the night, and you never have to worry about it again. Service Pack Two for XP will ask you if you want to turn it on. Say Yes! Prior to SP2, it had to be turned manually. To do so, click Start - Control Panel - System, and click the Automatic Updates tab. The screen you get will look like this: Just select Automatic, and click Okay. Very Easy! Combined with a good Firewall, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware plan, there is nothing else you need to do to keep your PC safe and secure.