You
may not care enough about bug fixes and minor features to keep every single app
on your hard drive current, but you'll need to keep Windows
and a few major apps (such as your browser, your PDF reader, and your office
suite) updated to avoid nasty security exploits. Fortunately, you can arrange
to have all of these updated
automatically.
Updating
Windows
Open
Windows
Update in the Control Panel. Click Change settings, and set
the drop-down menu to Install updates automatically. If you don't have Microsoft
Update installed, only Windows updates will download automatically.
If you have other Microsoft apps installed (anything from Silverlight to
Office) you'll need Microsoft Update. To pick it up, click the Click here
for details link at the bottom of the Windows Update window.
Updating
Your Browsers
Every
major browser has an automatic updating function of some sort, so your browser
should already be covered. Microsoft delivers Internet
Explorer updates via Windows Update, and Google Chrome
receives its updates behind the scenes; to see whether your version of Chrome
is current, click the wrench icon and choose About Google Chrome; if
your version is old, the dialog box should give you the option to update.
Like
Chrome, Firefox
handles its updates internally. Get the latest releases from Mozilla
by opening Tools, Options, Advanced, Update, and
checking Automatically download and install. Safari's updates are
handled via Apple Software Update, which normally is installed with Safari. If
it doesn't run automatically, open it and go to Edit, Preferences,
Schedule, where you can select your preferred update frequency.
Updating
Adobe Acrobat
Definitely
keep Adobe Acrobat
updated because it's a popular target for malware. You can set it to update
automatically by selecting Edit, Preferences, Updater and
checking Automatically update and install.
Updating
JavaScript
Go
to JavaScript
(on the left-hand side of the Preferences window) and uncheck Enable
JavaScript. Since JavaScript is a common attack vector for malware, your
system will be safer if you don't have it enabled by default (you can always
re-enable it for individual PDFs that you deem nonthreatening).
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