Photo by 🇨🇭 Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash

Software and operating systems are being updated and upgraded all the time.

Android 10 from Google, iOS 13 and MacOS 10.15 from Apple are being released. I thought a few words about upgrading and updating operating systems would be in order.

There are two distinct camps when it comes to this question.

Camp 1:

Upgrade now to get the new shiny look and awesome features!

Camp 2:

Wait a month or two to let all the first people iron out the bugs and instability in the new system.

Camp 1.

Quite a lot of these folk are also the ones who buy new kit when it is launched. They will have new iPhones or new Pixel devices that already come with the new OS from the start. I like to think of them as the guinea pigs and beta testers for the rest of us.

There are always some bugs and issues with new products and new operating systems. Despite what manufacturers tell us nothing is ever perfect straight out of the box.

Despite that most stuff these days does work pretty well when first released.

So, adopting early means you get to try the new features first.

Camp 2

These people are the more cautious type. Their current setup works just fine and they don’t want it messed up. They are happy to wait and see and then upgrade/update a month or two later. This will give time for any problems and bugs to be highlighted and fixed.

When they do eventually upgrade the system will be a more stable version. They should have fewer teething problems with the new software.

Computer OS upgrades.

There is a slightly different approach to this, especially for business users. When new operating systems are released there is always a chance older software may not work as it did. This is especially true of the latest macOS 10.15 release as it no longer supports 32-bit applications. Therefore anyone using 32-bit software will have problems if they upgrade.

A circumspect approach is recommended, especially if you have business critical software. It is essential to ensure your software will work as it did on any new system. The software developer themselves should be able to confirm this. It may mean you have to upgrade the software when you upgrade the operating system.

Verdict

My opinion is firmly in Camp 2.

It is nice to have the latest apps or features but only if they are problem free.

With software it is always better to wait a while before committing to an upgrade.

However, in some cases if you wait too long your old system may become more vulnerable to attack from malware and cyber-crime.

Finally- upgrading for security reasons is always a must.

As usual, if you have any thoughts or questions please get in touch.

https://www.srcomputers.co.uk/contact

The good start.

So far 2019 has been a good year for me from a business point of view.
Orders for new PCs and laptops are up by 300% for the two months so far.

Really great news for me and also for the customers who all have shiny new and fast computers to enjoy.

Some of this is attributable to the fact that their computers were old, slow, and were not worth upgrading. Money is better spent on funding a new machine rather than propping up a 6 to 7 year old one.

Coupled to this is the fact that Windows 7 goes out of support in January 2020, which I will explain more of below, and that just adds to the cost of a possible upgrade.

What 2020 will bring?

As I mentioned above, the first thing 2020 will bring is the end of life for support for Windows 7.

Does this mean Windows 7 computers will stop working?

No, it doesn’t, but what will happen is that they will no longer receive critical and important security updates. Therefore your computer will be more vulnerable to attacks, hackers and be generally less secure than it was.

You may not realise it but whenever your computer is connected to the internet it is being constantly attacked and probed by cyber criminals etc. looking for ways into your machine.
Usually your anti-virus and firewall software prevents them. However, if the actual operating system is open to attack because of a vulnerability that has not been fixed via an update then these attacks can succeed and get through.

So when Windows 7 stops being updated cyber criminals will target any known exploits and vulnerabilities and thus become less secure.

The way to combat this is to upgrade your version of Windows to a newer one, realistically this means Windows 10.

I will write more on this subject during the year, and if you are running Windows 7 currently you have several months to plan and prepare.

No need to panic just yet.

Until next time,

Damian

UPDATES

Most of us are dismayed when we see a message informing us about updates and  upgrades on our computers. However, we shouldn’t be as updates to software and systems are done to either add new features or fix problems and vulnerabilities.

Don’t just ignore them and hope they will go away. Security updates are very important and should not be ignored. If you don’t do them then you could potentially be leaving your system at risk from attack by malware, hackers or remote intrusion.

Some operating systems allow updates to be done automatically so you won’t forget. The system will then prompt you that updates are ready and that your system may need restarting. Do this once you have finished working and it will be ready for the next time.

The best time is to do updates at the end of the working day or over-night, so your time is impacted as little as possible.

OS UPGRADES

The one exception in all this is operating system upgrades. It is always prudent to adopt a wait and see approach rather than diving straight in when a new version of the system is released. Let someone else test it out first!

Having said all this, Windows 10 users will know that they don’t get much choice when updates or upgrades are done.  The system automatically pushes them through.

A good point is Microsoft’s recent upgrade to Windows 10 (version 1809) which has caused many users to experience missing files. Microsoft pulled the release from public download in early October. As yet, nothing has been indicated about when the upgrade will be re-released.

The latest Mojave upgrade to Apple’s Mac OS X has also caused a few issues with regard to Bluetooth, apps not running or systems not restarting for some users amongst others. A security update has since been issued for Mojave which fixed many of these bugs. I would now be happy to upgrade myself, which I have done with no problems I might add.

All of these problems can be avoided if you wait a month or so before upgrading. Keep an eye on the tech news to find out when any major issues found have been corrected. If you really cannot wait and must install the latest versions straight away, then at least make sure you have all your data backed up beforehand.

Information on Windows 10 updates can be found here.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hub/4338813/windows-help?os=windows-10

You can find more about Apple updates below.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201222

As always, if you have any questions or need help with this or any other issue, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

https://srcomputers.co.uk/contact