EveryManSkills
Tech and Digital Safety

How to keep your devices updated

Keeping devices updated closes the security holes attackers use, so turn on automatic updates for the operating system and apps on your phone, computer, browser and router, and let them restart overnight. Once a month, check that nothing is waiting. When a device is too old to get security updates at all, plan to replace it, because it will stay open to every new attack.

About 10 minutes to learnEveryday skill

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How to do it

  1. Turn on automatic updates in the phone's system settings and in its app store.
  2. Turn on automatic updates for the computer's operating system and set an overnight restart window.
  3. Check that the web browser updates itself and restart it when it asks.
  4. Log in to the router's admin page and turn on automatic firmware updates if it offers them.
  5. Pick a day each month to check every device for anything still waiting.
  6. Look up whether each older device still receives security updates, and plan to replace any that do not.

Common mistakes

  • Tapping remind me later for months.
  • Forgetting the router, which sits between every device and the internet.
  • Downloading an update from a pop-up on a website instead of the device's own settings.

Quick self-check

Three questions. Your last score is kept in this browser.

1. Why do updates matter for security?
2. A website pop-up says your computer needs an update from its link. What do you do?
3. Which device do people most often forget to update?

Teach this to someone

A one-page sheet for showing a friend, a roommate or a kid: what to say, what to show, and one question to check it landed.

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Sources

  • National cybersecurity agency guidance for home users, 2026. Checked September 28, 2026.

Last reviewed . First published .