Lesson 1: Configuring Windows Update

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Configuring Windows Update Settings

You configure Windows Update settings by selecting Windows Update from the All Programs

Menu. In the Windows Update dialog box, you click Change Settings. The Change Settings

dialog box is shown in Figure 12-1.

Figure 12-1

The Change Settings dialog box

You can set Windows to automatically install important and recommended updates or to

install important updates only. Important updates offer significant benefits, such as improved

security and reliability. Recommended updates address noncritical problems and help

enhance the computing experience. Optional updates (for example, device driver updates) are

not downloaded or installed automatically.

NOTE

Critical updates

Microsoft sometimes refers to important updates as critical updates and uses this classification for

its security bulletins. However, Windows Update for Windows Vista uses the term important

updates.

If you automatically download and install updates, you can choose a time to do so. By default,

updates are downloaded from the Microsoft Update site at 3:00 A.M. This is typically a time of

low activity, when the computer is likely to be doing very little else. You would change this set-

ting if, for example, a computer is not switched on or connected to the Internet overnight (for

example, where there is a dial-up connection) or in businesses that operate overnight and for

which 3:00 A.M. is a busy time.