Microsoft updates

Should I use Microsoft Update on my PCs and servers or is it a case of 'if it isn’t broken don’t fix it’ ?

Microsoft Updates fix bugs and close ‘vulnerabilities’ exploitable by hackers, viruses and malware.

This is generally a good thing. It is not unknown for an update to cause a problem and if you are in a business network environment the downloading of updates onto multiple PCs can seriously clog up your internet connection!

We always turn on ‘automatic’ Microsoft Update as we believe the benefits greatly outweigh the potential problems. Another good reason is that if you ever get a problem with your systems or software the second thing the helpful support team will often ask you to do it run Microsoft Updates. If you haven’t kept your PCs up to date this can take hours to catch up with the latest fixes. By the way the first thing the support team usually ask (because I know you were wondering….) is have you tried turning it off and on again.

Of course if you do keep Microsoft Update switched on you may never see any benefit – because it is fixing future issues you would have had before you have them.

If you are on a network with a number of PCs you can have a problem as mentioned above. Say Microsoft release a chunky (i.e. Big) service pack, each of your PCs will pick this up in turn and start downloading it. This can clog up your network somewhat. We had a client whose network ground to a halt every Monday morning as all their 50 PCs downloaded hotfixes, service packs. This can be fixed by setting up Microsoft Update on your server – the principle is simple – your server downloads the updates then your PCs load them direct from your server. This does require some skill to set up so you are probably best leaving this for your support provider.