© Microsoft, Inc.

Conflicker.  MyDoom.  Sassar.  Blaster.

If you have heard any of these name before you know that they mean trouble.  These are some very common, and very difficult to remove viruses.  Each one of these viruses detects and exploits weaknesses in your system, and each one will thrive whenever it discovers that you system has not been properly updated.  Each month, Microsoft releases updates for their Windows systems.  Included in these updates are patches which will eliminate any software holes the Microsoft Developers discover.  By taking away these holes in your system you greatly decrease your chances of contracting a major virus.

To date, Microsoft has published thousands of updates.  But the most important updates are the Service Pack Updates.  These include major patches to keep unwanted viruses and hackers out of your systems.

To see what Service Pack your computer has been updated to all you have to do is go to Control Panel> System

Located in the “General” tab you will see what version of Windows you are running (i.e. Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7) and you will also see which Service Pack your Windows Operating System is running at.

• Windows XP users should see Service Pack 3
• Windows Vista users should see Service Pack 2
• Windows 7 users you will be getting your first Service Pack in the first half of 2011

Getting the latest service packs as well as updates is easy, all you need to do is make sure that your Automatic Updates is turned on and set to download and install automatically.   It really is that simple.  If you don’t want the updates to interrupt your daily computing then you can set the Update schedule to a time after you typically go to bed (it is set to 2:00am automatically).  After all is setup you just need to make sure your computer is running at the time your updates happen.

If you are one of the many people who wish to save energy (and I commend you for this) and you like to turn off your computer at night, there is an easy option for you…A manual Update!  It’s easy, I promise.  If you choose to download your updates manually, I suggest you check them at least once a week to make sure you have all of the latest updates.

• For Windows XP users, if you open Internet Explorer and in the upper right hand corner you click on “Safety” (or tools if you are still running an older version of Internet Explorer) you will find a link for “Windows Update”

• For Vista and Windows 7 Users all you need to do is go to Control Panel> Windows Update and you will see a link called “Check for Updates”

See that was easy, and now you too can keep your computer up to date and running smoothly with the latest patches and releases for Microsoft.

Not so hard, and you can save yourself many frustrating hours of virus infections by following the simple steps I outlined above.