What You Need

- Mac OS 10.2 or later.

Updating a Mac's system software is an important maintenance task that every Mac user should perform periodically. Using the newest versions of Mac OS X and other Apple applications can protect you against malicious attacks, adverse system performance, and strange bugs that can cause applications to randomly freeze and crash. The first step is to automate Software Update, and the second step is to actually perform the software update. We'll show you how to do both in this tutorial.

How to Automatically Check for Software Updates

You can, of course, manually check for updates with Apple's built-in Software Update tool. But it's much easier to simply automatic the process and have Software Update notify you when it's found updates. Here's how to set Software Update to automatically check for updates:

1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences.
   
   
2. Select Software Update.
   
   
3. Make sure that the Check for updates checkbox is checked. Select a short time interval, such as daily or weekly.

   
   
   

4. Close System Preferences. You've successfully configured Software Update to run automatically.

How to Run Software Update

To actually update your software, you'll need to run Software Update. Here's how:

1. From the Apple menu, select Software Update. Your Mac will connect to Apple's servers to search for new software.

   
   
   

2. If new software is available, quit all running applications and unplug unnecessary devices from your Mac (such as USB hubs), and then click Install Items.

   
   
   

3. Software Update will download and install your new software. Depending on how much software you're installing, this process could take a while. When it's finished, you'll need to quit Software Update. You may need to restart your Mac.

That's it! You're finished!

Meet Your Macinstructor

Matthew Cone is a technical writer living and working in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In his free time, he does the desert rat thing and hikes and road bikes around the Southwest. The rest of the time, he studies straw-bale houses, reads Anarchist philosophy, and pretends to not be working. You can email him at: matt@macinstruct.com