Critical updates are crucial to keeping your computer secure and as bug-free as possible. But how do you know when new critical updates become available? Since the release of Windows 98, Microsoft included a utility within Windows that will periodically check to see if your computer is missing any available critical updates. This is the recommended way to keep your computer up-to-date from now on.

To activate automatic notification of critical updates, follow the easy steps for your particular Windows system.

For Windows 98

The Critical Update Notification feature for Windows 98 can only be enabled or disabled; no other options are available. To enable Critical Update Notification, just download it from the Windows Update web site.

After you have downloaded and installed Critical Update Notification, it will check for updates every five minutes when your computer is connected to the Internet, and it will alert you when new critical updates are available. (If you later want to disable Critical Update Notification, you must uninstall it using the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel.)

For Windows ME

Windows ME improved on the Windows 98 Critical Update Notification system and changed its name to Automatic Updates. To reduce user intervention, when new critical updates become available, Windows ME will automatically download them.

Microsoft also added more options for the user to customize. Here are the steps for using this feature:

1. Click Start, click Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Automatic Updates.
3. Select Automatically download updates and notify me when they are ready to be installed.
4. Click OK and close the Control Panel.
5. After you have activated Automatic Updates for the first time, a small globe icon appears next to the clock on the right side of the Taskbar. Click this icon.
6. You are prompted to read and accept the EULA. The Automatic Updates process will not start until you have accepted the EULA. If you choose to not accept the EULA, Automatic Updates will not work.

When Automatic Updates discovers an update is ready to be installed, a message will appear briefly above the clock on the right side of the Taskbar, and the small globe icon will reappear. When you click on this message or on the small globe icon, you’ll see a dialog box, which contains the following three buttons:

• Settings This is where you can customize the Automatic Updates process. (This is the same screen that appears when you double-click on the Automatic Updates icon in the Control Panel.)
• Remind Me Later Think of this as a snooze button for the Automatic Updates process. You can specify thatWindows remind you later, so that an update installation does not interfere with your current computer activity.
• Install Begins the installation process of the updates.

For Windows XP

Windows XP offers the Automatic Updates feature through its System Properties dialog box. Follow these steps to turn it on:

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.
2. Click the tab labeled Automatic Updates. 3. Place a check in the box next to Keep my computer up-to-date. With this setting enabled, Windows Update software may be automatically updated prior to applying any other updates.
3. Select the option Download the updates automatically and notify me when they are ready to be installed.
4. Click OK and close the Control Panel.

After you’ve turned on this feature, when Automatic Updates discovers an update is ready to be installed, a message will appear briefly above the clock on the right side of the Taskbar, and a small globe icon will also appear.

When you click on this message or on the small globe icon, you’ll be offered the option to see details or to install the updates. If nothing happens when you click the globe icon, that means the update is still being retrieved from the Internet. Try again in a few minutes.