How do I vaccinate my computers?

Due to the reality that we have lived through during the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination is presented as a solution to the health crisis around the world. It has been trending for several months.

Why link vaccines to computer hardware? In the face of new diseases, environments and even the high stress loads of everyday life, our defenses are exposed to organisms that seek to corrupt our health; and so are our personal and business computers. Computers are susceptible to these factors with weaknesses and failures in the operating system in addition to the different programs we have on them.

This is a reality that the IT world has been facing for some time now. So, in the same way that we have processes and systems for the development of drugs and vaccines for human beings, special mechanisms have been developed to remedy these weaknesses that are detected every day in technological equipment. These mechanisms work through the application of small vaccines called patches to our systems and programs which are commonly known as updates.

What is a patch and which ones can we find?

A patch is an improvement applied to the original programming code whose objective is to correct an error or a risk inside our system or program.

For these purposes, we commonly find 3 types of patches:

• Debugging patches: They seek to repair errors that were not detected in the development stage of the system and / or program.
• Security patches: These are released to close computer security gaps and make the system less vulnerable to intruder attacks.
• Update patches: Used with the main purpose of adding new functions.

In short, patches correct, protect and improve.

What is the impact of applying released patches?

Continuing the analogy of vaccinations, when applying them we have the benefit of partial, periodic, or total immunity, however they may be accompanied by side effects that might not be to the users’ liking but are usually normal.

The main effects that we must face when applying these patches to our systems are mentioned below:

1. Momentary reduction in the performance of our devices. This is because, in the background, a process is deployed that scans the system to verify if the patches are already installed. Once this is determined, it downloads the necessary ones from a repository.

Depending on the configuration, the installation will begin at that moment or at another time.

2. Request to restart the computer. Because of the insertion of the new code in the system, it is usually required to restart the computer to turn on with the corrections already applied. This is an action that many of us users do not like, because it requires closing all the documents and programs that we always have open for convenience at work or personal project.

3. Investment of a little time on the part of the user. Not only will they have to reopen everything they commonly use, but it is normal that, upon restarting, the system will require a few minutes to finish the application of the patch that was installed.

What should I do to ensure that my company’s computers are patched?

IT personnel are responsible for ensuring that patches are applied. However, the constant release of patches and the volume of computers in a company can make this task overly complex and time consuming for staff. To remedy this, there are patch management tools that make the process more efficient and less time-consuming.

The use of these tools or solutions allows active monitoring of devices in relation to patch status, such as: deploying the installation of new patches, scheduling the execution of the task at times with less impact on productivity, configuring installation behaviors according to criticality, and applying best practices.

Keeping your equipment up to date with patches is a particularly important action for your IT department, considering that the purpose is to directly support the well-being and development of your business.

Remember: These patches are the vaccines of your devices…

If you need assistance to vaccine your company’s computers, contact us!