We appreciate your cooperation in maintaining a healthy and secure computing environment. Please read the following important information regarding how updates and maintenance are applied to your computer:

Updates Are Not Downloaded Instantly
Updates/patches/installations are downloaded in the background, but the process may take some time depending on the size/number of the update(s) and your network conditions.  These are intentionally not visible to the end user as to not interrupt your day, however they do take time to fully download depending on the size of the update and your network/internet connection speed.

Updates Do Not Apply All At Once
Once downloaded, to ensure stability and reduce the risk of errors, updates are installed sequentially—one at a time—rather than all at once.  If you have multiple updates/patches/installs/etc, it may take several minutes or hours for everything to get installed.  The longer a machine is left offline, the greater the chance that they will need to be left online for a longer period of time.

Turning Off Your Machine at Night Can Delay Maintenance
When your computer is powered off during scheduled maintenance windows (which are typically overnight during non-work hours), pending updates and other maintenance tasks cannot be completed. This can cause delays in applying critical updates and affect overall system health.  Please leave your computers turned on and connected to the network overnight.  Laptop users.....closing the lid can disconnect the network connection.  Instead, please press the Windows key + L to lock your machine.  Please keep in mind that just because you may not actively be using your machine does not mean that

Updates In The Background
We try to not interrupt your daily work day.  Many updates that we do take place without alerts.  Please remember that just because you might not see something happening, doesn't mean that we aren't doing work/updates/installs on the back end.  Leaving your machine online and connected on a regular basis allows us to get the work accomplished that we need to get done.

Reporting Updates
CSU utilizes a system from Microsoft to report on computer vulnerabilities and needed software updates.  The reporting to this system is not instantaneous and requires computers to be left online so that it can be re-evaluated.  If a computer is not left on long enough for the Microsoft system to re-revaluate it, the computer will still appear to be vulnerable/unpatched until the next time it has had a chance to report in and be evaluated.

What You Can Do:
1. Keep your computer turned on and connected to the network during scheduled maintenance times.
2. Allow updates to complete without interruption.
3. Avoid shutting down or restarting your machine during these windows unless necessary.
4. Please remember that just because you are not actively using your computer doesn't mean that there aren't updates and scans happening in the background.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Properly managing updates helps keep your system secure and operating smoothly.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact your IT support team.

Sincerely,
HDS Technology Services
970-491-4734