Computing Services

Microsoft Windows Operating System Updates

Keeping the Windows operating system patched and updated will help prevent your PC from being the agent by which a worm or virus is injected into our network. It is an extremely important process which also has the benefit of obtaining bug fixes that have been provided by Microsoft.

The "manual" procedure below generally applies if you are updating a machine at home, a notebook PC, or a machine which is not connected to the UCAR network and/or Active Directory. For machines on the CIT domain and active directory, F&A provides a "Software Update Service" (SUS) described at the end of this document.

Manually running Windows Update

  1. The first step is to launch Microsoft Internet Explorer (other browsers will not work) and then browse to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. On many systems this step is combined into a start menu item called "Windows Update". [screen dump]
  2. Eventually you will see the "Welcome to Windows Update" screen in Internet Explorer. Click on the link "Scan for updates". [screen dump]
  3. After the scan takes place, you should see a screen with the title "Pick updates to install". Click on the link "Review and install updates". (this screen appears if there are critical updates which you have not yet installed).
    [screen dump]
  4. You will then see a list of critical updates ready to install. In almost all cases, you want to install all critical updates and service packs. To do so, click the button "Install Now". Note that some updates may not allow themselves to be installed along with other updates. If that happens, you'll get a dialog box warning you of the fact, and the other updates will be deselected. Click "Install Now" to install the remaining update, and then after the resulting reboot, repeat this procedure to get the other critical updates.
    [screen dump]
    [screen dump]
    [screen dump]
    [screen dump]

The CIT Domain Software Update service

For ACD machines connected to the CIT domain and UCAR Active Directory, F&A provides a Software Update Service also known as "SUS". This automates the process of keeping your systems patched and up to date, and also allows us to test the "less critical" of the critical updates before deploying them to our enterprise.

SUS usually happens early in the morning (3am or so) -- it works best if your PC is on, attached to the network, and if you are logged out. The service which runs on your PC queries our SUS server during early morning hours (about 3am) and downloads critical updates just as if you had run the manual procedure above. In the morning when you first log in, if you are in the administrators group on your machine (usually the case), you may be prompted to approve and install those updates. Go ahead and approve that process. In some instances, your machine may need to reboot. Other than the final approval, however, the process is automated, and as long as you leave your PC on during early morning hours once every few days, you should be reasonably up to date.