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Protect Your Windows PC - Essential Preventative Maintenance
Microsoft Windows Updates

All Operating Systems must be kept up to date, and this is especially true for Microsoft Windows.

Without these updates, your computer will become increasingly vulnerable to new threats from virus type software. These threats are made possible by weaknesses discovered in Windows after its release. The updates released by Microsoft will fix these weaknesses and so it is essential that your version of Windows has all the latest critical updates and service packs installed.

It is also essential to make sure you have an up-to-date anti-virus program running on your computer.

1. Before beginning the Windows Update process save your work and close any open programs. Then go to the Windows Update page by doing one of the following :-
    
   • Start Internet Explorer and from the Tools menu select Windows Update
      
   • Go to the Microsoft Windows Update web site at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
      

2. The Welcome to Windows Update screen should appear and will first check for the latest version of Windows Update. Follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the latest Windows Update if required, together with any other security items that it may ask you (such as Active X controls).
    
3. Next Windows Update will prompt for the type of updates to check for, of which you should choose Express (Recommended) and it will scan your pc and provide a list of high priority updates that are available. Follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the updates.
    
4. Note that some updates may need to be installed separately to others and some may require that you restart your computer after installing them, so follow the on-screen instructions carefully. Repeat the above steps until all updates are installed.

After the updates are installed, you may be prompted to restart your computer which you should do. Repeat the above steps until all updates are installed.

At step 3, you can also choose the option Custom, which will look for general updates for other Windows related software you may have installed. Although these updates are not critical, you may find it useful to install them.

You can configure Windows ME / 2000 / XP / 2003 to automatically download and install updates, avoiding the time and trouble of visiting the Windows Update page. Do this by going to the Control Panel and open Automatic Updates (you may need to click on Security Center if you have the Category View shown).

If you have an ethernet or broadband connection, you should choose the first option "Automatic (Recommended)" to automatically download recommended updates and install them. If you want to control when updates are installed then choose the option to "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them".

If you are connected to the internet with a modem, you may prefer to use the second option to "Notify me but don't automatically download or install them".

If the Windows Update icon () appears in your System Tray (bottom right of the screen near the clock), then double click on the icon and follow the on-screen instructions to install all available Windows updates.
 

Note : If you are using Windows XP and find that your computer produces a message saying that a program has caused an error and Windows will shutdown, then you may be able to cancel the shutdown process, by going to the Start menu, choose Run and enter the command shutdown -a and click on the OK button. The shutdown process should now cancel, but when you finally do “log off” your computer (shutdown will not be available), you will need to press the power button (when disk activity has stopped) to force the computer to shutdown.
 

Remember : It is essential you have the latest updates installed and have an up-to-date anti-virus program running.
 

This information is also available as an Adobe Acrobat document.
 

For computers connected to the main University Campus Network and set for domain login see the web page Microsoft Windows Auto Updates.

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Document last modified by Nigel Bryant
(e-mail: nbb; non-Essex users should add @essex.ac.uk to create full e-mail address)
on 26 September 2005.