Applying Microsoft Updates

July 24, 2008
Written by Joanne Jennings

Microsoft updates are released by Microsoft the second Tuesday of each month and shortly thereafter pushed to Windows computers on the OET network. It is absolutely essential for the security of your computers that these updates be applied promptly. The number of updates varies from month to month as does the time that it takes for these updates to be installed.

When updates are ready for installation, Windows XP users will see a yellow shield with an exclamation point on it in the system tray (right-bottom corner of your desktop), and Vista users will see a similar shield near the shutdown option in the start menu.

Windows users have some leeway as to when updates are applied. If you see that updates are ready to be applied, you can click on the shield to apply the updates which may require a shutdown or restart of your computer. Depending on an update’s critical nature, it will automatically install, possibly during the work day, if not given the opportunity to do so within a certain time frame.

If you want to prevent updates from interrupting your workday, you can apply updates at shutdown by selecting the option to apply updates and shutdown. Updates will then be applied before your computer turns off. Another option is to log off your computer and leave it on overnight, when you either see the yellow shield or receive notification through the shutdown process that updates need to be applied. Updates will be applied and your computer will reboot overnight. When you next log onto your computer, you will receive a message that updates have been successfully applied.