As I sit here with some of my college kids home from YU for test week, all of our offices are closed for the new year. For dedicated IT professionals, snow days and holidays are not days off, but, rather, the time to do restores/backups and most of all, updates.

That’s a question I am asked often: Should I do updates? This is a pretty easy answer. Yes, for the most part, especially for Windows 10. If you are using Windows 7, it’s time to upgrade as Microsoft support is ending in 2020. I always give this example: If any of your children are younger than your operating system, that should be a red flag that it’s time to update.

So why would one want to update? For operating systems, software and, yes, even hardware, as time goes on, security updates, enhancements and most of all, fixes, are included in an update.

Most software will prompt you to update. Many software update prompts will infamously hog the memory and bandwidth until you do it. Adobe and Google top that list.

As IT professionals, our contracts and agreements include third-party app updates. Third-party apps would include Chrome, Adobe Reader and Winrar apps that you download free. Then, of course, proprietary software should be updated. We recommend large updates to be scheduled with your IT team.

I was wondering if any reader would notice that until now, I didn’t use the word upgrade, but update. For the most part, updates will stay in your version; at times the update will upgrade your software. With upgrades we have seen disasters. Even servers can have an upgrade that can cause a BSOD (blue screen of death), basically a totally destroyed hard drive.

Even when we’re not talking about upgrades, there are some scenarios where updates can cause problems. Windows Server updates should only be updated with an IT professional. Of course, you can update on your own. But be forewarned there are risks. Updates can mess with printers and even video cards.

Here are some steps you should follow.

• Back up your data locally and to the cloud. At GCG we are 100 percent virtual machine-based. We back up the PCs and servers with all the apps and data. Back up before and after the update.
• If you are updating the firmware (software that upgrades your hardware like routers and firewalls) and do the update remotely, make sure that if you need a manual restart you have someone on site. If the update goes badly can you roll back? Have you alerted the office that there could be an outage?
• If you are an owner of your own company and not doing any updates or upgrades this is a mistake.
• Quicken and Quickbooks would top my list after Windows for proactive updates. Tax laws change and the updates are sent often.
• If anyone out there has a WordPress website, do not just update. I’ve brought our site down a few times. Now we leave that to our web engineers.
• Printer software may update without your knowledge. We opt to disable the update features of any printer.
• Constant updates can cause a PC to run more slowly. You can disable updates for low-risk software. Again, with Google, check what should be updated and what can be turned off.
• My first Ungarbled-tech column ever was about an amazing website called Ninite.com. Ninite is still every IT guy’s go-to site. On Ninite, you choose the apps you wish to install. Once your apps are checked and you click a one-download button, all of the apps are downloaded. If the app is not installed, Ninite.com will install the app. If the app is present, Ninite.com will upgrade. If the app is present and updated Ninite.com will skip the app. Ninite.com downloader can be run every day once a week. Avoids all the hassle.

These are lessons learned from being in IT in 15 years. Sometimes we schedule an upgrade expecting hours of downtime and the time span is less than an hour. Other times a simple upgrade causes havoc and fire drills. Being forewarned is forearmed.

By Shneur Garb

Shneur Garb is the CEO of The Garb I.T. Consulting Group. Shneur speaks on various subjects to the tech or layman. For questions or comments please email  [email protected]