Identifying new updates
Windows can identify new updates in a number of ways. First, you can
allow Windows to check for new updates on its own by changing Windows
Update settings as
discussed in the previous section. Second, you can force Windows to
look for new updates by tapping or clicking the Check For Updates link
in the Windows Update window. When you use this method to check for
updates, the process is immediate; Windows does not wait for the automatic maintenance window to check for updates.
After Windows performs its check, the results are displayed in the Windows Update window. In Figure 7, you see that two important updates are available for this Windows 8 system.
If you want to install all the updates, tap or click Install
Updates. If you want to select which updates to install, tap or click
the 2 Important Updates Are Available link. This text will vary
slightly, depending on the number and types of updates that Windows
Update locates.
Before you learn how to install selected updates, you need to
understand how to manage updates by using the Windows 8 native
interface. Eventually, the Windows 8 interface method and what you just
learned will merge, so this is a good time to cover this topic.
Managing Windows Update in Windows 8 native interface
The Windows 8 native interface does not expose all the Windows
Update settings that you have seen up to this point. Instead, the
Windows 8 native view of Windows Update provides you with just the
critical subset of Windows Update functionality that is necessary to
perform updates.
However, the Windows 8 native Windows Update tool does provide a
subset of functionality, primarily to acquire and install updates. To
access this tool, open the Settings charm from the desktop and tap or
click Change PC Settings. (It’s at the very bottom of the window.) In
the PC Settings window, choose Windows Update, as shown in Figure 8.
On the screen shown in Figure 8,
the 2 Important Updates information box is displayed when you tap or
click See Details. It is covering the Install Updates button, but you
can dismiss the details box by tapping or clicking the See Details link
a second time. Tap or click the Install Update button to install all
the updates Windows has identified.
If, however, you want to install just a subset of the identified
updates, tap or click Choose Which Important Updates You Want To
Install in the information box. This link returns you to the earlier
Windows interface and to the dialog box shown in Figure 7.
Tap or click the 2 Important Updates Are Available link. (Remember that
the wording might be slightly different for your system.)
The result is a screen like the one shown in Figure 9.
On this screen, you can see that two updates are ready to be installed.
One is an update for Windows 8 itself, and the other is a definition
update for the Windows Defender system protection tool.
The update selection window provides you with information about each
update that is ready to be installed. To view this information, tap or
click the update you want to review. You can get additional information
about an update by tapping or clicking the More Information link at the
right side of the window. Clicking the link opens Internet Explorer and
directs you to the Microsoft Knowledge Base article that is associated
with the specific update.
To install an update, make sure that the check box next to that
update is selected. When you have finished selecting the updates, tap
or click the Install button. Your updates will be installed, and you’ll
be kept apprised of the installation progress by a progress message
box, as shown in Figure 10.
