The PC Key to Happiness - A Properly Maintained OS

Routine maintenance is highly recommended to guarantee efficient and reliable PC performance, even when there is nothing clearly wrong with your computer. Failure to perform maintenance on your PC will eventually cost you – whether it’s in the form of money spent on repair or replacement, loss of data and/or time wasted.
These days money unnecessarily spent hurts more than ever, and the important files that we keep stored on our computers are sometimes irreplaceable. Maintenance can help you achieve the best performance out of your PC without making a costly trip to your local repair shop to help you fix a problem you could have prevented yourself.

Running Windows Update is essential to maintaining your OS
Windows Update is a service provided by Microsoft that provides updates for the Microsoft Windows operating system and its installed components, including Internet Explorer. Microsoft release patches and updates to Windows and Windows applications through this mechanism.
Running Windows Update is not something that should be thought of as a time-consuming waste of bandwidth, rather as an essential part of system maintenance, just like keeping Antivirus definitions up to date.
Security updates or critical updates eliminate vulnerability to known malware and security exploits. Other updates correct errors and enhance functionality. If you opt to turn off Windows update notifications, you make your PC vulnerable – and if you get stung by a security problem or “bug”, well, you only have yourself to blame.
There is no excuse for running an out of date system. Many vendors release patches even for older versions of their software, so if your business depends on that Windows 98 computer, then you should still be able to keep it up to date. Of course, you should also upgrade to something newer anyway, so that when the time comes for support to be dropped, you don’t get caught out!
The maintenance of your computer is important in order to minimize personal loss and to provide you with more peace of mind. While we often associate personal loss primarily with financial loss, there is much more at stake when it comes to your personal computer.
More about Windows Update
Security updates are routinely provided on the second Tuesday of each month, Patch Tuesday, but can be provided whenever a new update is urgently required to prevent a newly discovered or prevalent exploit targeting Windows users. Windows Update can be configured to install critical updates automatically so long as your computer is connected to the Internet, without you needing to install them manually, or even be aware that an update is required.
Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7 provide a Control Panel to configure update settings and check for updates. The Windows Update Control Panel is also the means to download Windows Ultimate Extras, optional software for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. For previous versions of Microsoft Windows, updates can be downloaded from the Windows Update website.