We are all well aware of how popular the Microsoft Windows operating system has become. Not only is this operating system popular for the business world, the vast majority of home computers run this operating system in various forms.
This popularity can make you a prime target for hackers and other criminals looking for a way to take advantage of a security risk in the operating system. Microsoft is keenly aware of this issue and takes steps almost instantly to make security patches and updates available for you, or your IT professional, to download and install.
Depending on how you have the automatic updates setting configured, these updates may or may not download and install themselves automatically, or you may have to initiate the process yourself manually.
While this feature is nice, most IT pros would rather pick a time to download and install these updates in a controlled situation, where the loading process can be monitored for any problems or issues that may arise.
The automatic updates utility can be accessed through the control panel. Once you open up automatic updates, you have the option there to select automatic updates, but even if you have automatic updates turned on, it is always a good idea to visit Microsoft’s update website occasionally and have the update center scan your computer to check and make sure you have all the latest updates available.
Microsoft also has a very thorough program called “Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.1.” This tool written for IT professionals provides a streamlined method of finding common security misconfigurations.
This tool allows our technicians to quickly scan your server or workstations and identify any missing security patches and provides a quick link to the supporting white paper that will explain to the technician exactly what security issue is being addressed with the particular security patch. Once enough of these security patch releases become available, Microsoft bundles them all together into what is called a service pack. This allows IT pros to download this patch to portable media and deploy it very quickly in a network environment.
I cannot stress the importance of keeping up with these service packs and security patches. A case in point, I went to a client’s office and checked every one of their workstations to see how “up to date” they were.
One of the stations required a service pack installation that has been available for months now. In addition, it
required 59 additional updates to bring it up to date.
You can imagine the risk that this system was to the client’s network. We now have this client’s network under our Managed Services Plan. This plan is offered for a nominal monthly fee and encompasses their server and all stations.
Now these stations are monitored around the clock by our network operations center, and updates are downloaded and installed after hours, as soon as the updates are available.
So make sure to keep your computer and your information safe by being secure and contact Technology Experts to get your network protected by our Managed Services Plan. It’s the best way to make sure your network is safe and secure.