It’s a brand new computer. Maybe it’s a one or two year old computer. Maybe it’s even older than that. Regardless, you’ve been taking good care of it. You back it up regularly, you watch where you click on websites, and you run regular virus and malware scans.

So why are some of your games crashing? Why won’t websites display properly? How come programs take forever to load?

What’s going on?

Chances are, your computer is in need of software updates.

Can you remember the last time you updated your computer? How many of those little icons for Java, Adobe Reader, Windows Update and more are sitting in the bottom right hand corner of your screen in the icon tray (or worse, are sitting out of sight behind that little upward facing arrow)?

Many people hit Remind Me Later when an update notification flashes on their screen, others ignore it, or have automatic updates turned off. This is not healthy for the computer; it leaves it vulnerable to security threats and viruses.

Another reason why people don’t update is because they’re not sure if the notification is legitimate or not. When in doubt, go to the source! For Windows Updates, click the start button or hit the Windows key on the keyboard, type Windows Update in the search box, and click on the Windows Update program. This will take you to the update center within Control Panel. Update your computer from there and you will be sure that you are downloading the right thing.

For other programs, like Java or Adobe Reader, go to their websites (java.com and adobe.com/reader) and download the program from there so that you will have the latest version.

So if you find your computer is running into bugs and issues, make sure you are keeping your software up to date! If that doesn’t fix your problem, then maybe investigate that your computer is clean and doesn’t have any malware hiding on it!