I hope you made it to my column today in one piece.

Surely there was no traffic

on the trip to work, no wrecks to get in your way and no coffee to spill

on that new "Dukes

of Hazzard" tie your grandmother

gave you for Christmas. Just like any other day, I bet you walked into your

office or computer room, started up your computer and immediately accessed

the Web, right?

OK, so maybe something did go wrong. Perhaps your computer was

frozen and you had to restart. Possibly your Internet connection was down.

Worse yet, maybe

someone has been using your system to store old TV sitcom episodes, and your

computer is running out of space.

It doesn't matter what kind of computer you

have. At some point, you will have minor glitches within your operating system.

The only way to avoid this is

to stop using your computer altogether. I would highly recommend not doing

this, mainly because it would be difficult to do anything on your computer

if you didn't use it. Also, it would be difficult to read my column, at least

until I finished developing a program to send it out via Morse

Code.

Fortunately,

our friends at (fill in the company who made your operating system) are working

diligently at correcting bugs. Well, who knows if they are working

diligently, but at the very least, they are working at it. What most people

don't realize, though, is that many of these operating system fixes are easy

to implement almost immediately on their computers.

For Windows users, there

should be a link in your Start menu for Windows

Update. At this juncture, you

have the ability to scan for new updates based on your

current operating system. The list is divided into three categories: Critical

Updates and Service Packs, Windows (your OS) and Driver Updates. The Critical

Updates (hence the name) are the most important to perform. Usually these include

items regarding security or patches in regularly used software, like Internet

Explorer.

If the computer recommends I perform an update, I usually do it. Especially

when it comes to Microsoft and security, it seems as if there are updates fairly

often. For instance, I found out Wednesday that Microsoft

plugged three more security holes.

Coincidentally, Cisco

announced Thursday the

company found a serious networking flaw its software. They are trying awfully hard to not allow people to store

old sitcoms on other people's

computers,

but "Dukes

of Hazzard" fans

don't give up that

easily.

Software

Update in OS X on a Mac works similarly, as the system fetches

the appropriate additions to your operating system and applications. The

cool thing

about Software Update is you can schedule it to search for updates on a regular

basis, instead of having to remember to do it by yourself.

But for both Macs

and PCs, not all updates are good. In fact, many times companies issue an

update, then release an update to that update a couple

of days later.

Luckily for us, there are plenty of guinea pigs out there to tell us if

running particular updates actually go the way the are planned. If you are

not sure

if a specific update, whether it's hardware- or software-based, is right

for you, just check your favorite computer news site or message board.

It's

good to know that system providers are making strides each day to make your

day go a little smoother. You'll probably still run into problems

almost

on a daily basis, but by keeping your computer up to date, you stand

a greater chance of surviving another week in the tech world. Now getting

back home

from the office, that's a different story. Hopefully Boss Hogg has already

made

his daily rounds near your area.