How to update your computer

Welcome everyone, and let's jump right in.

To start off with, find your way to the control panel as you did with creating the Restore Point. If you haven't yet done that, I highly recommend following these instructions.

Now, I will forewarn users of Windows 10, these instructions may not necessarily apply equally, and if you find that you cannot check for and install updates with these instructions, I will have Windows 10 specific instructions down below.

For Windows 7 and 8, go ahead and click "Windows Update" in the Control Panel. This will take you to the Windows Update window. The other method of getting here is searching "wuapp" in your search bar (wuapp stands for Windows Update Application).

Once here it may say that you're set to automatically install updates and that there are no updates available. If this is the case, click "Check for updates" on the left. This may take up to a few minutes before it finds anything. For both Windows 7 and 8 there is a known issue with wuapp taking long periods of time to find updates if there are any. Anything longer than twenty minutes can be safely assumed that your computer is suffering from this issue. If this is the case, you may have to let the computer sit for hours, possibly even days, to find, download, and install these updates. Some of these updates include a fix to this issue, and once the fix applies, the update process will drastically speed up.

If your computer does find any updates, it will give you the option to either install just the Important updates, or choose optional ones as well. I advise that you do check these optional updates and see if any of them say anything about being security updates. They will typically include an identifier that looks like "KBXXXXXX" where the Xs are numbers (ie KB419687). If there are any of these, select them as well to be installed as part of the updates. Once the updates have been installed, you will be typically instructed to restart the computer. After doing so, check again for updates. If no new ones appear, then you are ready to go.

Windows 10 Updates

For Windows 10 users, if these instructions do not work for you, there is still a way to find out what updates you need. I do not have visuals, but these instructions should be easy to follow.

Either go to settings from the Start menu, or press the Windows key and 'I' together. This will bring up a window with settings. There should be either 9 or 11 options, depending on what build of Windows 10 you have (most of you will be on pre-1703, which is the only build with 11 options in this Window). The last option should be "Update and Recovery." Click this option, then the next screen should already be on updates. If not, click updates in the options on the left. Now, it should automatically scan for updates, but if not, as above, you can click "Check for updates," and it should look for updates for you. If it finds any, it will attempt to download and install these updates. Once completed, you may be instructed to restart the computer to fully apply the updates. Though it does happen, rarely do you need to check for updates a second time, as they usually are all found on the first check.


And these are how you find and install your updates. With these instructions you can keep your computer up-to-date and keep it protected from potential threats.