One day, I was in the middle of texting my friend something very important (aka sending her a cat meme I just saw on Instagram), when a notification to install an update appear. Needless to say, I just swiped that notification up because nothing can get in the way of me sending my friend that meme!
Sounds familiar?
Very.
But what y’all may not realise is that these updates are far more important than you may think!
Here’s the thing. Updates contain important fixes that address known weaknesses in software and apps. These weaknesses are also called vulnerabilities. If your software and apps are not up to date, you run the risk of allowing cyber criminals to find and use these vulnerabilities for their malicious intents. Cyber criminals could infect your devices with malware, steal your data and even take control of your devices.
Conversely, promptly updating your software and apps limits the amount of time that cyber criminals have to find and use these vulnerabilities. At the same time, updates can also deliver bug fixes and improvements, as well as add new features to your software and apps.
But of course, if you do not want to be interrupted in the middle of you sending that cat meme, you can always enable automatic updates!
So how do you enable automatic updates?
To minimise disruptions to your daily routine, you can choose to enable automatic updates for your software and apps. You can set your devices to update automatically when you are connected to Wi-Fi or schedule updates to install overnight when your device is plugged in.
Windows
To turn on automatic updates for your PC, select the ‘Start’ button, go to ‘Settings’ and select ‘Update & Security’. Go to ‘Windows Update’ and select ‘Advanced Options’. Under ‘Choose how updates are installed’, select ‘Automatic (recommended)’.
Mac
To turn on automatic updates for your Mac, select the Apple menu, go to ‘System Preferences’ and click on ‘App Store’. Select ‘Automatically check for updates’. You can choose to enable options for automatic macOS, app, system data files and security updates.
Android
Notifications are sent when updates for Android are available.
To turn on automatic downloads for software updates, go to ‘Settings’ and tap on ‘Software Update’. Select ‘Download updates automatically’ to download software updates automatically when connected to a Wi-Fi network. Depending on your preference, you can also choose to schedule software updates at a more convenient time.
To enable automatic updates for your apps, go to ‘Play Store’ and tap on ‘Settings’. Select ‘Auto-update apps’. Depending on your preference, you can choose to auto-update apps at any time or over Wi-Fi only.
iOS
Notifications are sent when updates for iOS are available. Tap ‘Install Now’ to install updates immediately. To install updates automatically overnight when your iOS device is plugged in, select ‘Install Tonight’.
To turn on automatic updates for your apps, go to your iOS device settings and select ‘iTunes & App Store’ from the left side menu. Under automatic downloads, toggle the button on the right of ‘Updates’ to turn it on.