“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

Well yes, but no.

Update your programs!  All of them.  It is best to keep all of your programs updated.  There are the rare occasions that updating breaks the program.  It happens.  But breaking a program far outweighs the security risks of NOT updating your program.  As always though, make sure you have a good backup of the computer and/or data specific to the program before updating.

The reasons why software developers put out updates for programs is to keep them running smoothly.  They also fix security concerns that have been exploited.  If you are not comfortable upgrading your programs because you aren’t sure if they are legit or not when they pop up to update the programs, call your IT company.  They can easily tell if the update is legit or not.

Some typical programs that require continual updating:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Adobe Acrobat/Reader
• Java
• Microsoft Windows (Windows Updates)
• Microsoft Office

In addition to this, you should also try and keep your big programs updated on a yearly basis.  Programs like Quickbooks, Sage Peachtree, Microsoft Office, UltraTax, and other yearly programs.  If a company is putting out a new program yearly that needs purchased, it should be updated to the newest version.  We recommend updating AT LEAST every 3 years for these programs.  Some programs that have to do payroll need to adhere to federal laws and must be updated on a yearly basis.

If you keep your programs updated, your security is less likely to be compromised, less likely to be incompatible with other programs, and you can easily upgrade instead of trying to jump through hoops to get to the latest version from a really old version.