Microsoft Windows: Turn on automatic app updates.

Apple MacOS: Update apps or use automatic downloads.

It is good practice to check for application updates at least once per month. For any applications that you manually installed, you will need to consult the documentation for each app to learn how to check for updates. For these reasons, and because the vendors usually have security and privacy standards for their app stores, it is preferable to install your apps from the app store rather than manually downloading and installing the applications. If you installed them from the operating system’s app store, you have one place to go, and you can configure your app store to automatically apply updates. Next, update all of the applications you have installed. To start with, enable automatic updates for your operating system:

Make sure to periodically reboot your computer (rather than just closing the lid on a laptop to put it to sleep) to help it install and apply updates. Therefore, it is very important to promptly install all patches and updates and narrow the window of time that your computer is vulnerable to these bugs. Attackers will often ‘reverse engineer’ software patches to discover these bugs and learn how to compromise computers using that software. The authors, developers, and vendors of your computer’s operating system (OS) and all the software you run frequently discover and fix security vulnerabilities and bugs that impact the functionality. Once you have completed the three key steps, there are some extra measures you can take to add even more security. There are three key steps that can help protect your computer from most common threats, regardless of the brand, model or operating system.

Avast on multiple computers