How to Use Windows Update
Like any large software company, Microsoft continually fixes problems and security vulnerabilities in its products. In order to distribute these improvements to the relevant computers around the world, it uses a service known as Windows Update. When Windows Update runs it checks the configuration of your computer (versions of software etc.), checks with Microsoft for the latest updates for your particular configuration, and then downloads and installs them so that your system is always up to date.
There are actually two closely-related parts to this functionality – Windows Update which controls distribution and installation of update to Windows, and Microsoft Update which performs the same function for other Microsoft products.
To configure automatic updates, you need to select "System" from the Performance and Maintenance section of the Control Panel, and then select the "Automatic Updates"
As you can see, this allows you to change the settings associated with Windows Update. You can control the way that High-Priority updates are downloaded and installed (automatically, which is the recommended option, or manually). If you choose to have the updates automatically installed, you can also control the frequency and timing of the installation. Optional updates are not installed automatically. This also does not give the option of automatically installing updates to other Microsoft products, although you can choose this option through the Windows Update website.
If you then select "Windows Update" from the Start menu -> All Programs, you'll see that the Windows Update website is opened.
This gives you the option of downloading and installing High-Priority updates via the "Express" button (if you have automatic updates enabled, then these should already have been installed), or browsing the complete list of High-Priority and Optional updates that are available for your configuration via the "Custom" button.
The other thing this tells you is whether you have Microsoft Update enabled. In this case it isn't, so you can enable this by clicking on the "Go" button (if you already had this option enabled, then the main title on the page would say "Welcome to Microsoft Update" instead of "Welcome to Windows Update"). This brings you to the Microsoft Update web page, where you can turn this functionality on by clicking on the "Start Now" button (which we recommend you do).
If you go back to the main Windows Update page, and click on the "Custom" button, then you get a list of all of the available updates for your computer.
You can click on the individual updates to see more details, and use the check boxes on the left-hand side to indicate which ones you want to download and install.
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