Best Practices

Best Practices

• Subscribe to security update and service pack notification services.

  Notification services assist you in identifying recently released security updates and service packs, allowing you to deploy the updates or service packs in a timely manner.

• Assess your network to determine which computers require the security update or service pack.

  A security update or service pack might not be applicable to all computers on your network. You must identify which computers will require the update or service pack.

• Obtain security update or service pack installation files from download locations.

  Depending on which OS or application is affected by the security update or service pack, you must connect to the appropriate Web site to download the installation files.

• Test the security update or service pack on test computers before performing a full deployment.

  By performing a pilot deployment, you identify any issues that might arise with the security update or service pack installation. This prevents the security update or service pack installation from causing undesired side effects on the target computers or network.

• Use the appropriate tools to deploy the security update or service pack.

  The tools that you choose for deploying security update or service pack will determine the administrative effort required for the deployment.

• Validate the installation of the security update or service pack.

  Once you complete the installation of the security update or service pack, you must ensure that the security update or service pack is installed correctly on the target computers.