It is the eternal struggle of living in the twenty-first century and owning any thing electrical. It always needs a little MOT and an update. Sorry, but there is little I do can to solve that issue for you.
But, I would like to explain and sort out some digital urban legends I have heard over the years. For example, it is of course true that your AntiVirus software can auto-update. It is not true though that you need to manually update every day or every time you start your machine. The reason being, the auto-update feature will download critical updates for your AntiVirus software. These include virus definitions and major security fixes to the software. It won’t download software fixes of a non-security nature, so additional features and functionality improvements may well be missed out on. It is however important to manually run your AntiVirus update at least once a week or fortnight.
These same rules apply for operating system updates. Whether it be Windows or Mac, it is a good idea to run yourself through the procedure of checking for updates manually once a week of fortnight.
In the case of Windows Update on Windows XP, you can choose to go the fast route and use ‘Express Update’ or ‘Custom Updates’. The express option is the recommended choice. Windows users also have the option of using ‘Windows Updates’ or ‘Microsoft Updates’, MS updates is the better of the two, because it will update and fix Office programs too.
Windows Vista will update all functionality improvements, as well as security fixes for all Microsoft products, so not just Windows, but MS Office, Windows Media Player and other products as as well. Apple Macs as well on OS-10 will also download all available updates, for all Apple software installed.
If you do these things as advised (often), they will take five minutes to do yourself, and will require you to just choose ‘next > next > next > install > restart’ – easy! All to often, I find that people leave it down to me to do, which basically means that there will be more downloads and updates to install, taking much longer.
To update on Windows XP:
Press Start > All Programs > Windows Update > choose ‘Express Update’ > Follow on screen instructions from then on in > wait for installation to complete. Then restart if requested.
To update on Windows Vista:
Press Start > All Programs > Windows Update > Press ‘Check for updates’. If updates are already waiting, choose ‘install now’ and wait for installation to complete. Then restart if requested.
To update on OS-10:
Press the blue Apple logo in the top left > Software Update > Software update will start, install any available updates by ticking the boxes on the left > Press install and wait for installation to complete. Then restart if requested.
There, that really isn’t that difficult is it???
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I have been trying to install 10.3 for months.
Every time I need to watch a video it tells me I need to install Flash Player 10—–When I try it tells me Flash player 10.3 181 5 is installed and also says installation failed because Active X is not registered and to uninstall all versions of Flash Player. I have tried everything, and believe I have things so screwed up that if Flash Player is installed its no wonder it won’t work. Is there any hope? An email with a step by step as to how to get this mess untangled would much appreciated. Thanks so much—
John