Update Friday

Friday is the day when I usually do website updates for my customers. I do have a fair amount of them to do today, as usual.

But, I set aside some time this morning when I first opened my laptop for some delayed, and much needed, updates for my own PC. There have been some nasty PC bugs flying around lately. Seems they come as fast and as often, and are as annoying, as the flies we have in the garage around the pears we picked the other day.

However, housekeeping is something we all must do if we want to keep our data safe and private. So, this morning I updated all sorts of things: my mal-ware software, an update that AVG has been griping about, a new update for Thunderbird, along with a Java update, Framemaker update, Flash update, and Adobe Reader update.

Pretty much all of that is security updates, and it is a necessary side note to being safe on the Internet these days. For many of you just having a browser installed (Firefox, Explorer, Chrome, etc.) is enough to spark an update of add on applications like Java and Flash. And, if you have not updated these items and have been holding out, like I have for a week or so, you really need to take the time and update these applications.

Not sure what to do? Well, if that's the case, then use your browser as a guide and a tool for add-on applications. In your browser, check for add-on updates through the menu in your browser. In Firefox, go to Tools, then Add-ons. Explorer: Tools, then Manage Add-ons. This way you can safely check to see if helper applications like Java or Flash needs to be updated. And, of course, as always, keep your virus protection software up to date!

So (yawn!) three "restart now to install your changes" and one good hot cup of coffee down the hatch, and I was good to go this morning!