Linux & Things: The Update Log

Saturday, July 24, 2010

The Update Log

I've spent most of July out of town/state/country, so I haven't been very diligent about updating all the computers. Today, though, I took a stab at it:

I. Windows Vista

We have a Windows Vista desktop. It's slated to be upgraded to Linux after Child₂ moves files off of it to the new Macbook. For now, though, it runs several programs that said child uses, e.g. Photoshop, and has a full set of browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari) that I use to judge how new web pages look to the masses.

OK, here's everything I needed to do to update that machine:

Update Virus Definitions: We have McAfee installed, primarily because we bought this machine before I knew about Microsoft's Windows Security Essentials. It's not smart enough to know that it should autoupdate virus definitions if the computer's been off a long time, it just gives you a Dire Warning of Impending Doom.
Update Firefox
Update Thunderbird
Update Google Chrome
Update Safari: This one popped up on its own, offering updates to both Safari and iTunes.
Check Flash Version: Up to date
Perform Microsoft Updates: At least these were done in the background, all I had to do was reboot.
Reboot: Note that three (3) programs asked for permission to reboot: Windows itself, Apple's Safari/iTunes, and McAfee
Run Virus Scan: otherwise it wouldn't do it until late tonight.

II. Mac OS X

This is my work laptop.

Run Software Update
Run Microsoft Autoupdate: to check if any Office components needed to be updated.
Update Firefox
Update Thunderbird
Update Google Chrome
Check Flash Version
Check for updates to Aqua Emacs
Run sudo port upgrade: to check for updates to Macports programs.
Virus check: I'm required to run a virus checker by the powers that be, never mind that the next Mac virus in the wild will be the first I'm aware of. Fortunately, on the Mac McAfee is smart enough to do all its work in the background, without the warnings.
Reboot to take care of the system updates