It’s just been announced that this coming week’s Microsoft Updates are going to be one of their biggest ever! The 16 Updates will affect Windows (all current versions), Internet Explorer (all versions) and MS Office. Five of the 16 are tagged as “Critical” and nine are “Important”, the two top levels on Microsoft’s 4-Step Scale.

Credit: Thinkstock

At SeniorNet Kapiti we encourage all our members to keep up to date with the regular Microsoft Updates and to allow them to install at the earliest possible (convenient) time.

Normally, the updates will download in the background while you’re working on your PC. In Windows 8 you will then be offered the option of “Update and Restart” or “Update and Shutdown”.

In Windows 7, you often don’t get any choice during shutdown! The PC will turn itself off once the updates are applied but you need to be aware that when you next reboot, the PC may fluff around “updating stuff” for a while as it completes the changes. It may even re-boot once or twice depending on the updates being applied (we can’t know at this early stage). Do however remember to leave your laptop plugged into the mains while the Updates are being applied – a battery failure during a System Update can be fatal!

Microsoft has an excellent track record for updating our PCs without causing operational problems afterwards so I regard the risk as very very low that anything untoward will happen.

If you never turn your PC or laptop off, then this will be a good opportunity to do so (you should shutdown and restart at least once a week anyway!).

The Updates will be released “into the wild” at 10:00am on November 11 Pacific Standard Time – that’s 7:00am Wednesday Nov 12th for us in New Zealand. The updates themselves may take a day or so to download and remember they can only download if your PC/laptop is turned on and connected to the Internet! Keep an eye out for them.

If you want a more detailed explanation of the patches being installed, try this link

If you’re unsure whether Windows Updates are being applied to your laptop, why not bring it in to the next How Do I…? Workshop being held at The Learning Centre at 10:00am Thursday 27th November and get it checked.