Microsoft regularly releases updates to their Operating Systems (OS) and applications to fix bugs, add features, or improve security. When those updates are released you may receive a small notification in the lower right corner of your screen, but then it will hide itself after just a few seconds. If you don’t notice the message and click it to take action, your computer may be out-of-date. Here are the steps you should perform at least once a week to insure you are as up-to-date as possible:
- Click on the “Start” button in the lower left corner of your screen.
- In the “Type here to search” box where your cursor is blinking, type in “check for updates” (without the quotes).
- In the search results, under “Best match”, click on the result that says “Check for updates”.
- In the window that appears you will see one of two options:
- If you see an “Install now” button, that means you already have pending updates. Click this button to initiate the installation process.
- If you see a “Check for updates” button click it to initiate a check for new updates. If updates are found, click the “Install now” button to initiate the installation process.
NOTE: Some updates require a restart of your computer, if you are prompted to restart please close all open applications, saving changes if needed, and restart your computer. Then perform steps 1-5 again to check for any additional updates.
- If you see the text Check online for updates from Microsoft Update, click on that to install updates.
- Depending on the number of pending updates, you may need to perform steps 4.1 and 4.2 above multiple times.
- Once you are presented with the “You’re up to date” message with today’s date, that means you are up-to-date and can close this window.
Performing these steps at least once a week will insure that your computer is as up-to-date as possible. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the ITS Support Center at x4222 or support@colby.edu.