What is an UPDATE? ▷ Know the Types and their Importance

What is an update and what types of updates are there? Definition and examples

We live in a world so connected to devices that the term “update” does not sound strange to virtually anyone. Let us know, we accept and that’s it. However … Do we finish knowing what an update really is and what does it imply?

If we go further we can also ask you if you can differentiate between the types of updates that exist and if, when you do the updates that your phone, or any other device, demands, you know what you are installing exactly.

It may seem that, to this day, it matters little if we know or not what happens on our devices since, the updates end up being practically forced (it is only necessary to see the insistence of Microsoft to update Windows 10 , for example). This causes the user to end up resigning and end up accepting any new update.

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What is an update? Definition, concept and meaning

New alerts, security, more features, patches, improvements, translations, later versions … Apparently, there is much to improve in our devices and softwares and, since we are going to do it, What less than knowing what an update is and what types exist!

In spite of what it might seem because of the countless types there are, the concept of updating has a very simple meaning. It is a process carried out with a result of system improvement of a device or program , making it in a later version than you have.

At present, this term seems to be coined primarily within the world of computing , where there is talk of a update at the software or hardware level . Updates are created to fix problems or incorporate improvements to the systems. Since programs must now have a large number of reviews to be competitive, they are updated regularly.

Sometimes, they can create a break in the use of programs due, mainly, to the fact that programs are released very quickly and programmers detect errors that affect the integrity of the software. For this reason, what they call in computer terms “ patch ” should be taken out, but it is really a program update that includes solutions for those failures detected by programmers in the version that is considered official .

But updates should not only be made to fix application errors, but they are also published due to the complexity of the equipment that users currently have. Allowing a multitude of different configurations makes difficult for developers to find the diversity of failures and then fix them as difficulties arise.

En el apartado relacionado con las mejoras de los videojuegos, podemos decir que los desarrolladores no tienen culpa de la gran cantidad de actualizaciones a las que el usuario se ve sometido. Esto es debido a la presión que ejercen las comercializadoras, ya que la fecha de lanzamiento que ellos ponen es inamovible y siempre con un margen bastante corto. Por ello, quien programan, diseñan y desarrollan un título crean y ofrecen una versión completa para lanzar al mercado pero que precisa realizar pruebas y correcciones de la misma y no queda otra que hacerlo con el juego ya en manos de los usuarios.

This is unpleasant, of course, mainly because of the delay in consumers having to waste time to work on their device, sometimes the same day the software in question is published. Not all users have high speed internet at home . In addition, the main detail, these users have bought a product and deserve a complete and adequate service to the investment they have made.

In some cases, even the companies themselves force them to pay certain amounts in case they have to download an update , when it should be free of charge. Although these are opinions that have nothing to do with updates and but it can always be good to know him.

In general, this is an update; a data package that is downloaded and installed on your device to somehow improve the information you have . As you can see, the motivation is usually diverse but the concept remains.

Some synonyms for this concept and that you can find anywhere are:

Update
Improvement data package
Improvement files
Patch
Upgrade
Improvement (without more)…

Why is it so important to keep updates up to date and what are they for? ?

The main debate that opens for organizations when a new update appears is whether these updated programs or operating systems meet the security conditions . In many cases, these patches are created as an improvement due to the discovery of new security vulnerabilities within the sector.

Each company in charge of an operating system creates a rule to check their security vulnerabilities at certain times. In the case of Microsoft , for example, they always do it on the second Tuesday of each month .

If our operating system offers us a new update that is important for security, we must install it as soon as possible , since the risk of attack on our system is very high, even if we do not consider it like that.

Windows has a classification system so you can determine if you carry them out and alert you to the level of need to include them in your system, although, as we always say, all updates are essential for the proper functioning of any system. .

The Windows classification system , which is the reference and one of the most important (for those who use Windows, of course) is divided into:

Important updates (essential for the proper functioning of the system)
Recommended (supposes an improvement for the system)
Optional (they do not imply improvements, but they add programs new to the system)

The risks that may arise in the event that there is a pending update in reference to the security of a system are:

Worms or Trojans
Exploits
Malware
Vulnerabilities

With all this information, what is intended to indicate is that it is very important to keep our computers protected against the emergence of malicious software and one of the fundamental tools we have at our disposal is that of the updates or updates. It means wasting some time of our time installing them, but it will provide a long-term solution and protection for our system against malware and cybercriminal attacks, which even if you don’t believe it, they are much more common than what is believed.

Remember that it is not only important to improve our operating system, but also to review the data installations that may arise for the applications that we use daily. Each company publishes them for these and, once they connect to the Internet, some check if they exist. Developers prepare each program to act on the improvements as it is most efficient for them.

When an error is found in a program, the working procedure is as follows:

The supplier is informed, that he will look for the importance of it and develop a solution or patch, which will then expose the user as an update.
Once formed, it will add the possible improvements that has been able to perform and will take the solution to the system.
From there, each system or program will follow the steps also marked by the programmers of the application. This includes, for example, if the upgrade package is automatically downloaded at the moment the device is connected to the internet or if it will wait for the user to give their approval to do so.
From that moment, the turn comes again for malware developers, the well-known pirates, who will be responsible for finding new weaknesses in the system or application and attacking them.

In short, having updates makes us safe and, in addition, we have all the improvements, at any level, that exist for our products.

What types of updates are there?

As we have been able to move forward, there are improvement data packages of all kinds. In this way, each update is much more accurate than if all kinds of files were joined (error solving, security …). Let’s see what types of updates exist and what each one consists of.

From apps (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram …)

In the case of applications, we must take into account that there are two types of new data installations mainly. On the one hand, we have bug fix updates and, on the other, those that include stability and performance improvements on our phones and tablets. Programmers should indicate what improvements we will see at the time the update is finished, which is good to encourage us to do it as soon as possible.

Anyway, there is a section dedicated in each application to the «changelogs», which is where each developer indicates what is going to be modified. In iOS, if they do not fill in that section, the application is penalized, but in the case of Android this does not happen and many times the programmers do not write anything, so the user is dissatisfied with this action. Many of you are interested in installing the new WhatsApp update , and this app is one of the most improvements every few minutes.

Operating systems (Android, Windows, iOS, MacOS , Linux, Ubuntu …)

In the case of operating systems, updates should always be up to date as a small fissure, however minimal, is the way pirates have to harm a greater number of people, and touch an OS It is not silly precisely.

Each operating system decides the severity that exists for not installing the novel data and, in case of being considered of importance (as practically always happens in the case of the OS) it does so in a mandatory way, without going through the permit filter of the user, which is important so that the equipment is not unprotected at the time it connects to the Internet.

Of computer software

There are essentially two types of computer software updates :

Security updates: These are used to control some problems that might otherwise seriously affect our devices, we usually talk about automatic updates .

In addition, the device seeks to perform them at a time when it is not being used to not interrupt other activities although, sometimes, when the corresponding improvement has not been possible, it ends up running at any time, to the limit, being able to seriously interrupt our activity .

Manual updates: Are those that are done on a scheduled basis or at the time they are requested, but with the user’s own confirmation.

This is not always recommended, but it is true that in certain cases, “nothing happens”, because they are improvements that hardly have anything to do with our security is compromised.

Therefore, what must be done when connecting to the website of the product in question is to check if there is an update available and notify the person in charge of doing so or do it ourselves if we have permission to do so. If one is available, we can choose to download the data and install it or, on the contrary, we will leave it pending for another occasion; as we wish.

Hardware

In the case of hardware, changes can be made to the physical components. This is not always easy and updating them requires an evaluation of the PC . It is about deciding if the computer we use as a machine has the basic components and the most modern software.

The most important thing is to check the motherboard and, depending on it, decide what is installed and if the update will conflict with what each of the peripherals is pre-installed and the changes that should be made . This must be done for the CPU, central memory and I / O system. You can see a guide on how to renew graphics cards here, and how to improve your computer’s RAM from here

For security

Security updates are, perhaps, the most important . This is a set of data that is developed after a study of the element to protect and the types of attacks and cybercriminal tendencies .

All types of components are installed with the sole objective of shielding our system or software so that no external attack penetrates into it. Here lies the importance of keeping a device or program always up to date.

A security enhancement for your device must be done immediately to forget that it exists and that our system can run out of receiving it. We must not stop a security update of any kind.

Important

In the case of the Windows operating system , it is possible to configure the importance of the applications to specify the way in which the download will take place.

« Install applications automatically «: This is the default configuration, according to our criteria, especially in the case of being a client computer, where it is preferable to do all alone.
« Download applications, but allow me to choose if I want to install them «: Allows you to have control over what is being installed in the system at any time. Once the improvement content has been downloaded, we will be shown a message to install it. This configuration is the most recommended for systems and servers.
« Check for updates, but allow me to choose if I want to include them in my system «. This option works like the previous one, but in this case, I must approve even the download of the content. The system only warns us that, indeed, there are data packages that can be included depending on the version we are in.
« Do not look for updates «. This option should, directly, not exist. This is because it leaves all responsibility for improvement over the user, so that the system will be at risk for too long. There are those who may think that it is most comfortable so that they “do not bother us”. However, remembering to check for updates is not common and, in the end, we find unprotected devices and devices.

Automatic

Automate this download system seems to me to be a complete success . The user does not want to waste work time and, to do so to decide the updates that are going to be installed or not, is a way to do it. I agree that there should be a control of them, so as not to waste time every time I turn on a device and ask us to update.

For this reason, the user must be able to choose the periodicity according to the update system. If one is marked as important, then when a new one appears, will ask you for confirmation for the download and installation . If we check other options, the installation times will vary.

Manuals

This is the consideration to the previous section . When this type of update is declared, it must be taken into account that at the time any notification appears, you will be asked for confirmation to begin the download and installation; specifying our confirmation yes or yes. Therefore, we must assess whether this cuts us too much in our daily work .

Available

This is any data packet later than the version available to us. They are the ones that exist and are, as the name implies, available updates . Depending on the consideration we have given them, they will have been downloaded to our devices or even that.

Earrings

This is very useful especially for applications that have updates that do not affect their integrity. In this case, is allowed to be “queued” or pending . They are the ones that, in one way or another, are trying to access our device, either because we have configured them that way or for any other reason.

Optional

In the case of being optional updates it is because some improvement has been created at the level of requested requests, but that, if we do not want it, we do not have to inform ourselves about them. In the event that your installation is not done, you will be notified with different codes of the existence of it , but, as we say, you are free to decide if you want it or not because its content is not, not at all essential.