RUNNING THE WINDOWS UPDATER
The first step in keeping your system at home clean and infection free is making sure that your operating system is up to date. Microsoft issues regular patches and updates. It is YOUR responsibility to make sure your system is patched and updated regularly and properly. This website will teach you how to do this.
Go the following URL: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
(Notice there is NO www at the front of the URL.)
You will see this screen:
Click on Scan for updates. It will then query to see if you have the latest update engine installed. If not, it will install it automatically. Then it will run through its updates telling you it is 0% completed, 33% completed, 66% completed, then 100% completed. When completed you will see the following screen:
If there are any Critical Updates, the circled box above will be checked and the number of updates will be displayed. Then look over to the right and install ALL of the updates. NOTE: periodically it may ask you if it can reboot your machine. Obviously the answer is yes, but this means you will have to run the scan all over again to pick up the remaining critical updates. If you have not updated in awhile you may have to reboot and rescan your machine up to 20 times. Clearly, if you are connected via standard modem, this will require you to redial your internet service provider (ISP). Although this may be inconvenient, it is still better than having all your files destroyed by a virus, worm, or Trojan horse. Obviously you can reduce the impact of the problems by running this updater at least weekly.
You do not have to install the Windows XP/98 updates or the Driver updates. Those are clearly optional and should probably not be installed unless it is clearly an update you need.
Once you have updated your Operating System, you should then
take the time to click on Office Update and update your Microsoft Office
products (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook/Outlook
Express, and Access). (NOTE: in order to
update your copy of Office you must have Administrative privileges on the
machine AND you must have Office CD1 to insert in the
Click on Check for updates. If you have never run this before, it will ask you if it is ok to install the update engine. You will, of course, answer yes. You will then see this screen:
Some things will have to be installed before others and you may have to run the scan again to pick up what is left. You should always install everything. Clicking on the Start Installation button will start the process.
AUTOMATING THE
OPERATING SYSTEM UPDATE PROCESS
If you are the type who forgets to update your operating system on a regular basis there is good news. Windows 2000 and Windows XP will do it for you automatically if you ask it to. Most likely, unless someone changed the defaults, it was setup this way (to automatically update) when the operating system was installed. You should check however, to make sure the defaults have not been changed. This is how you set the system to automatically update your operating system:
Find the My Computer icon on your desktop. Your screen will look something like this:
RIGHT click the mouse on that icon and roll down to “Properties”. If you do that correctly you will then see this:
Click on the Automatic Updates tab. You will then see this:
Make sure the first checkbox is set: (Keep my computer up to date. If you do NOT set this checkbox, automatic updating is disabled.) I personally like the second radio button selected like it appears above. That way I can make a decision whether to update or not. You might want to select the third button and put it on a NIGHTLY schedule. I would select a time when the virus control software will not be updating. Click on the two hyperlinks on this screen to learn more about scheduling and automatic updating. When you have selected the radio button of choice click the OK button. The window will disappear and you will be on an automatic update schedule.
ONE VERY IMPORTANT
POINT
If you wish to run automatic updating (checking the first checkbox) your computer MUST be left on all the time to receive the downloads. Turning your computer off disables the automatic updating feature because the system will not be able to get to the Microsoft website for the updates. The same is true if you set your virus control software to automatically update. Therefore this only works if you are permanently connected to the Internet through either a DSL connection (Bell South’s Fast Access) or a cable modem (Comcast’s High Speed Internet). Automatic updating will NOT work if you are connected via a telephone modem or on a computer that you should not leave permanently on, such as a laptop. In those cases you will have to manually update your computer on some type of frequent (at least weekly) schedule that you remember.
If you leave your computer on permanently either put a
screen saver on your monitor, have it set to turn off using energy saver after
about 30 minutes of inactivity, or manually turn the monitor off. That will
save your electricity as well as any problems of “burning” an image into your
monitor. This is particularly true if you are using an LCD monitor since they
have a significantly shorter lifespan. You may also notice that your computer
may become sluggish after a few days if it has not been turned off. That is due
to memory leaks in computer programs you are using. Programs take up computer
memory while they are being used and, through programming errors, never return
all of the memory for use by other programs when they are closed. In order to solve this problem, simply reboot your computer every
day or so in the beginning or middle of the day.