This section describes software updaters and the advantage of using Insider Updates.
Why update your software?
Developing today’s software is an extremely complicated process whose final phase is testing the software to verify that it functions properly under all conditions. Unfortunately, despite all this testing, real world users often uncover situations that cause software to fail. The software may also not function with new System software or new versions of software that it depends on.
Once developers are aware of these problems, they typically create an updater to patch the application. One of the main reasons to update your software is to fix bugs that cause crashes and lock-ups. Developers may also enhance the software’s performance.
After developers release an application, they usually add features that are either requested by users or weren’t included in the previous release. They may also enhance the user interface to improve the usability of the product. The second main reason to update your software is to take advantage of all the latest features.
In summary, updating your software ensures the most stability, best performance, most usable interface, and most complete feature set.
Updates versus upgrades
An update is an enhancement to a current major software release. An upgrade is a major software release which usually changes the feature set and user interface significantly. Most developers provide updates for free but charge for upgrades.
Why not update manually?
Although releasing updates is not new, developers have been unwilling to incur the costs of shipping updater diskettes to all customers that have registered their software. Instead, the proliferation of online services and the Internet has made it possible for software developers to make their updaters freely available to users. Although it is possible for you to manually update your software, it is generally not practical. Manual updating requires you to take the following steps:
1) Find and sign on to the developer’s web site
2) Navigate to the software updaters web page
3) Compare the version number of the updater with the software on your computer
4) Download the updater, if applicable
You must repeat this process for each Application, Control Panel, Extension, Utility, and System software program you have installed. In addition, software developers’ web servers may refuse your connection or download sluggishly. Manually updating software is a very time consuming and tedious task that users avoid; it therefore does not get performed thoroughly or regularly.
The advantage of using Insider Updates
The combination of Insider’s extensive repository of updaters, Insider’s high performance Internet servers, and Insider Updates software effectively and simply solve the updating problems. The Insider Updates staff is dedicated to scouring the Internet and online services to locate updates. In addition, many software developers send their updaters to us as soon as they are available. We are committed to maintaining the most comprehensive collection of Macintosh software updaters.
To provide the best performance possible, we store all the updaters on our state-of-the-art servers, which are connected to the Internet with multiple T1 lines. We constantly monitor performance to serve you better.
The Insider Updates application automatically identifies your outdated software. It also provides the convenience of allowing you to schedule the updating process during non-working hours so that updating becomes essentially invisible. In addition, the software can turn off your computer when your update session is complete.
The result is that you receive all applicable updaters as soon as they become available. Once downloaded, you decide if and when you want to install the updater. Insider Updates does not automatically alter your installed software - you are in complete control.
