Patching is important
The majority of us use Microsoft Windows and Office on our computers, Microsoft are dominant in the work place of that there can be little doubt.
Microsoft Windows and Office are very complex and contain millions of lines of computer code written by some of the best coders in the world, however these coders are human and as we are all aware humans make mistakes.
These mistakes can lead to problems such as:
- Crashing of the application
- Security weaknesses allowing hackers to gain access to your PC and data
- Virus and worm outbreaks
- Identity theft
When a problem is identified Microsoft write some code to fix it, this is called a patch.
Microsoft release patches and updates to their operating systems and applications on the second Tuesday of every month, this has commonly become known as “Patch Tuesday”.
Each “Patch Tuesday” at around 6pm GMT these patches are available for download and installation, after this time you may see a yellow shield or notification flag in the system try near the clock (see below), this indicates that patches and updates are probably available to be downloaded and installed:
Patching your PC’s, servers and laptops helps keep your data protected and avoid other problems highlighted above, in addition it is seen as “Best Practice” in computer and network maintenance. There are some exceptions to when you might not patch, such as if a bespoke piece if software will have problems with the update, this is quite rare.
All of our customers with maintenance and support agreements have patching carried out each month by us, the work is done out of hours to avoid disrupting the working day.
Is your network patched regularly ?