Updating Windows
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Microsoft made updating Windows software more complex with the advent of Windows 10 and Windows 11. How you update Windows now depends on what version of Windows you have.
There are main updates and optional updates:
Main Updates
To check for updates:
Windows 11
Right-click the Windows icon at the left edge of the taskbar, click Settings, click Windows Update, and click on the button to check for updates.
Windows 10
Click the Windows icon at the left edge of the taskbar, click Settings (or the icon that looks like a cogwheel —
),
click Get It and Security, and click on the button to check for updates.Older Versions of Windows
Either use the Windows Update function, or use Internet Explorer to go to the Windows Update website.
In either case you will usually have to restart Windows after the update.
Optional Updates
To check for optional updates:
- Go to the Windows Update window as described above for your version of Windows
- Click on Advanced options
- Look at Optional updates and see if any optional updates are available. If there are:
- Click on the right arrow to the right of the number of updates
- Click on the downward arrow to see a list of the updates
- Click on all the checkboxes and click on Update
- After the updates are done, restart Windows if necessary
NB: Microsoft offered major updates twice a year until 2021 Q3, when Microsoft changed major updates to once a year. It is usually best to wait a month, or even several months, before installing these major updates, because initial versions of the updates tend to be very buggy.
NB: in Apr 2017 Microsoft made it much harder to learn about security updates. Prior to that date, Microsoft published a page which concisely reported all updates; after that date, Microsoft instead published a page which buries security update information in a huge morass of details.
See Also: Updating Office.
