Automatic Updates

Linux

BitDefender Linux Console Free Edition

• Provides anti-virus protection for the file system, signature updates, reports, malicious code detection

• Latest version is available at http://www.bitdefender.com/.

• Command-line tool -- run and update via cron

Up2Date? (Redhat and Fedora)

• Click on the icon depicted as exclamation point (!) within a red circle on the menu bar.

• Click on the "Launch up2date" button from within the "Alert Notification Tool" window.

• Enter root password in box provided and click ok.

• You will be presented with "Welcome to Red Hat Update Agent" window. Click on the "Forward " button.

• Select the channels to update and click he "Forward " button to continue. You will see the "Progree Dialog" box while the software is being downloaded.

• Click on "Select all packages" checkbox if you want everything or just select the software you want to update. Click on the "View Advisory" button for additional information or click on the "Forward" button to continue. Again, you will be presented a "Progress Dialog" box while the software packages are being retrieved. When you see the "All finished." message, click "Forward" button to continue.

• The "Package Installation" status bars provide a visual views of of individual and overall progress. When you see the "All finished." message, click "Forward" button to continue.

• At this point the "Finish Page" is displayed. Click "Finish" button to exit up2date and click the "Close" button to exit the Alert Notification Tool. At this point, you will see that the icon on the menu bar has a checkmark within a blue circle.

• When the icon returns to a red circle with an exclamation mark, it's time to check for new updates.

Updating Legacy Redhat and Fedora Products

Redhat has discontinued support for the Redhat free desktop series (version 9 and below). Redhat has shifted their weight behind the Fedora Core desktop series. Earlier versions of Fedora Core, Redhat's free desktop successor, will also lose support as newer versions are released. The Fedora Legacy Project was started to provide support to users who are running legacy products, but want to have up-to-date packages. Fedora Legacy supports the use of yum and the apt utility for retrieving packages to your desktop. You may also manually download and install packages from Fedora Legacy's repository.

The following example will show you how to configure apt for Redhat 9. For yum and apt setup guides on other Redhat/Fedora versions, check out Fedora Legacy's documentation.

• Download apt: rpm -ivh http://download.fedora.us/fedora/redhat/9/i386/RPMS.stable/apt-0.5.5cnc6-0.fdr.8.rh90.i386.rpm .

• Next you should configure apt to use the Fedora Legacy repositories from the official download.fedoralegacy.org site. Edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and insert the following line at the start of the file: rpm http://download.fedoralegacy.org/apt redhat/9/i386 os updates legacy-utils. You will probably want to remove or comment out any other lines in /etc/apt/sources.list which start with rpm or rpm-src as these would cause apt to use non-FedoraLegacy packages.

• Once you have installed the apt package, you should run the following commands as the root user on your system to update your system. Resynchronize the package index files from their sources, apt-get update. Have apt update your packages, apt-get dist-upgrade. You can also use apt to clean up downloaded files: apt-get clean

Macintosh OS X

McAfee Virex

All SCS Mac computers should have the most current version of McAfee Virex installed and continuously updated with the most current virus definition files (DAT).

Microsoft AutoUpdate

Checks for new and updated versions of Microsoft software installed on a Mac, much as the native Mac 'Software Update' does.

Microsoft AutoUpdate should be configured when the first Microsoft product is installed. It will automatically detect all Microsoft software and locate updates from Microsoft as they become available.

To configure AutoUpdate:

• Open ''Applications"
• Locate the AutoUpdate icon
• Select the method of updating, 'Manually' or 'Automatically'.
• If you choose 'Automatically', then select the frequency you wish to check for updates (Daily, Weekly, Monthly).

OS X and Software Updates

Mac OS X includes a 'Software Update' feature that checks for updates to the Mac OS and Mac software.

To set 'Software Update' to automatically seek updates and notify you when they are available:

• Click on the 'Apple' icon in the top left corner of the screen.
• Select 'Software Update'
• Once the update box opens, click on 'Software Update' and then select 'Preferences'.
• From the box next to "Check for Updates", select either "Daily", Weekly", or "Monthly".
• You also have the options to download important updates in the background, and to "Check Now" for software updates.
• You will be prompted by the system when there are new updates available to download.

Microsoft Windows XP

To keep all Windows desktops at SCS as secure and virus free as possible, each machine will be configured by TSG for automatic updates from both the Microsoft and the McAfee websites. This will ensure that as updates are published from these sites, each machine (with little or no action required from the user) will download and install each update(s).

McAfee VirusScan

You should see the McAfee icon, a little shield with a Red "V", in your system tray.

Windows XP Operating System

Click on Start/Settings/Control Panel/Automatic Updates to verify that you have Automatic Update enabled. If not, check the appropriate radio button.

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Last changed: 31 Mar 2005