Whether you’re on your phone, your laptop, your tablet, or a desktop computer, there’s never a convenient time to install patches and updates. It’s easy to continue blowing this off.
While you may not want to set everything up to update automatically, try not to put it off forever, either. Making sure you’ve got the newest software updates and bug fixes is an effective way to mitigate security risks and ideally patch up vulnerabilities before anyone can exploit them on your devices.
Check all of your electronic devices to make sure your apps and software are up-to-date. (If you’re curious, you can often check to see what’s new in the apps you’re updating, though sometimes serious security risks are downplayed as ‘minor fixes.’)
Yael Grauer is a freelance tech journalist covering online privacy and surveillance for WIRED, Forbes, Slate, and other publications. Find her at http://yaelwrites.com or on Twitter @yaelwrites, and check out her free ebook on staying safer online at https://yaelwrites.com/saferonline.pdf.
Check out more digital hygiene tips:
- Removing public data
- Privacy protection on domain names
- Https everywhere
- Anonymous “Tor” cloak or VPN
- Prepare for a DDos attack
- Two-step verification
- Privacy plug-ins/cookies
- Third-party permissions
- Image “hidden pixels”
- Links and attachments
- Install patches and updates
- Use a password manager/strong password
- Strengthen security questions
- Encrypt hard drive/backup data
- Click to play
- Use end-to-end encryption
