The World According to Mitch

This week many users were working on their computers and received a Blue Screen Of Death. It started happening right after a Windows Update cycle, so it stood to reason… right?

Wrong.

In this particular case, a vendor driver (I believe it was with HP) started causing issues. Not good… but not catastrophic.

Why am I writing this? Simple. If I were to draw up a list of he most important steps to take to keep your computer safe from intrusion and malware, patch management would have to be in the top two or three. No question, every time. Don’t ignore them because you don’t trust them.

Microsoft releases patches on a monthly cycle. Some of these patches are features, other types of improvements, and whatnot… and some of them are security updates. If you are not a power user, apply them, period. If you are a power user, you might want to do some sort of testing, or maybe check online forums with people who do, and then apply them. If you are a massive corporation with huge IT infrastructure, test them and then apply them.

Do you see a pattern forming here? I am not saying that you have to apply every patch… but most of us don’t know how to pick and choose, so yes! Apply every patch!

As for the bad ones… they happen. Not often mind you, but from time to time. When that happens, read the blogosphere to see how to remove them, or to avoid them.

You wouldn’t stop eating cucumbers because you got one bad cuke, would you? I didn’t think so. Apply your patches and stay safe 😉