Should I run updates even if my computers are working?

Posted under Blog Posts, Healthcare I.T., Software Design

Had a great question from one of our customers:

“Should I update my tablet computers even though they seem to be running OK?” 

It sounds simple on the surface but, as usual, there are some nuances that deserve attention.

There are four kinds of updates:

1. "Windows Update" updates,
2. Software Vendor application updates,
3. hardware manufacturer updates,
4. BIOS updates

Here is the rundown and rules for each:

Windows Update

"Windows Update" updates (redundant much?) are well-tested and are almost always safe to install. There are only a couple notable examples of ill-behaving updates in the last 15 years, so your odds of a trouble-free update are greater-than-excellent.  Microsoft operating system updates can be installed by visiting http://update.microsoft.com – or you can set your Windows computers to automatically download them/ install them/ or just notify you when new ones are available.  Microsoft’s unofficial “Patch Tuesday” is the second Tuesday of each month, so you will usually see the update notification icon in the lower-right corner of your screen around the middle of the month.

With Windows Update, the system can automatically install the updates for you.  I personally choose to set the system to “download only” because some updates can force a reboot, and I don’t want my machines to automatically reboot themselves in the middle of the night.

Software Vendor application updates

The makers of your software applications (Adobe Photoshop, Intuit Quicken, Firefox, Daemon Tools, etc) may release software updates.  Many applications have an ‘update checker/notification’ feature built into them.  I consider each of these updates on a case-by-case basis.  The general rule is to trust the people who made the software, but always be prepared for the update to break something.  Application updates are generally not as well-tested as operating system updates.  That’s not a knock against us software folks; it’s just a fact of economics and scale.  It is not uncommon to install an application update to fix something that was broken by a previous application update.

Hardware manufacturer updates

Hardware manufacturer updates are device-specific updates (for the hardware in the Motion C5) like the pen/screen device, sound card, display, network adapters, etc. If you are experiencing specific problems, it would be a good idea to review and install the hardware manufacturer updates. The most commonly-helpful ones are usually related to the wireless adapter; it seems like the manufacturers are always updating those. Most of these hardware updates have been integrated into the Window 7 Update system, but XP/Vista users must manually visit the manufacturer web sites and download them. As such, many XP/Vista users are totally unaware that updates exist for their hardware.

BIOS Updates

Rarely required, these are sometimes helpful when installing newer hardware or operating systems on an older computer.  If you think that you need to update your BIOS, you should study the BIOS update process thoroughly before performing the procedure.  (Here is a video of how to do it if you have a floppy disk drive in your machine, but who has one of those anymore?)  If done incorrectly, you can turn your $400 computer into a brick.

In summary:

• Rule #1) If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• Rule #2) It’s already broke; you just don’t know it yet.

…so, if Microsoft or the manufacturers say that they have some updates, you should probably install them.