How to Manually Run Windows Updates

Get the best from your Windows devices by keeping them regularly updated. Not sure how? This article goes over the steps to manually check for, download and install updates to your windows machine.

March 13, 2020
Valiant Technology
3 min

One of the best and easiest ways to beef up the security and performance of your devices is to ensure that you have the latest updates. Windows consistently sends out patches which include new information and protection from the latest malware threats as well as fine tuning processes for better performance. If you ignore or have turned off prompts for updates you are seriously limiting the capacity of your machine!

Fortunately, if you are a Valiant MSP client, your work computer will have updates scheduled to be installed automatically. However, if you are not, or you are also working on a personal computer, you will need to ensure updates are happening.

Check for updates

If you don’t have an active prompt for updates, you can seek them out to run them manually. Windows 10 makes this easy as you can use the search bar at the bottom. (In Windows 7 you can click start and then search). Type in “update” and select either “check for updates” or “windows update”.

From the search bar near start, you can find the system settings you need.

Your update settings page will include information on your current update status and any past/recent updates. This page may say you don’t currently have updates, but you can verify by clicking “check updates”.

Download and install updates

If the updates window now indicates there are updates available, follow the prompts. For the example below, the updates need to be downloaded, so you would click “download”.

Updates available section will let you know which updates are ready for you to download.

Once the files are downloaded, they should automatically install. Follow any prompts to allow changes to be made to your computer.

Reboot your computer

Your computer will ask you for a reboot. (Even if you don’t see the prompt, go ahead and reboot anyway.) Go to the start menu, power section, and click restart.

When updates require a reboot the power symbol will indicate that you will be updating when you restart the computer.

Your computer will take a little longer to turn off and on again while it finalizes your new updates. Once you reach the login screen you should be all set.

Repeat as necessary

Occasionally, updates will need to be incremental, meaning you have to run a certain update before the next update is installed. Just to be sure, go back to the check for updates section. This should tell you that you are up to date. If there is another new update to download and install, just repeat this procedure.

Last checked time was very recent for this screen capture, so I can be assured this computer is up to date.

If you seem all set, check your update settings from the same update settings page. Go to advanced settings and make sure you are receiving update notifications and you don’t have updates paused. This way you won’t forget to update in the future.

Your advanced options can prevent you from ever having to look at this article again.

How to best protect yourself and your devices

Updates are one thing, but there are a number of ways to increase the security and performance of your machine. Visit https://thevaliantway.com/kb for more helpful tips and how tos to get the most out of your machine and applications.