| One Step Ahead |
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December 19, 2006, Volume 53, No. 16
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Another tip in a series provided by the Offices of Information Systems & Computing and Audit, Compliance & Privacy.
Security Patches/Updates—Usually Automatic, but “Restart” Weekly to be Sure
A critical aspect of keeping your computer secure is to regularly download and install operating system (OS) updates, patches and service packs. Many updates can be downloaded and installed “on the fly” with little or no impact on the computer’s operation. In some cases, however, rebooting is required for an update to take effect, and you may be presented with a dialogue box giving you the option of restarting immediately or canceling the restart. If restarting is impractical or inconvenient at the time, it’s very important to remember that a reboot is needed. If you tend to leave your computer on most of the time, be sure to restart it weekly to make sure any recently installed updates can take effect.
Your LSP has probably set your office computer up for automatic updating, but your home machine should be configured for auto-updates as well. See “Six Steps to Stronger Security” at www.upenn.edu/computing/security.
For additional tips, see the One Step Ahead link on the Information Security website: www.upenn.edu/computing/security/.
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