A blue Windows icon with an orange ring around it near the lower right corner of your desktop in the Notification area. This icon comes and goes. It appears when Windows Update is busy downloading or installing critical security updates intended to patch security holes and help keep your computer safe. When you hover the icon with your cursor, a bubble message tells you what Auto-Update is doing. It may be busy downloading updates. Avoid logging off or shutting down your system until the download and installation are complete. If it has finished downloading updates, it may be waiting for the nod from you to install them. Click on the icon and tell it to go ahead. Or your computer may need to be restarted in order to complete the installation. The sooner you restart your system, the sooner the updates will take effect.
Heads-up! The Auto-Update icon won’t appear if Automatic Updating is turned off. Make sure Auto-Update is turned on and has the recommended settings by following the instructions here.
If it’s been some time since updates have been applied to your computer, Automatic Updates will do its best to get your system caught up, and you’ll be seeing a lot of blue Windows Update icon for a while. Keep touching it with your cursor whenever it appears, and when prompted, do your part to keep the update process going. Also, if you cannot get Auto-Update to turn on or think something has gone wrong, call the help line provided by the maker of your computer, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), or a computer consultant.
Heads-up! Sometimes when you select Shut Down, your computer will ask you if you want to “Install updates and shut down”, or will just tell you it’s going to install updates. It’s very important that you let your computer go ahead with installing updates. Do not shut it off manually. Updating could take an hour or more, but it pays to be patient. Also, Microsoft will NEVER send you an email telling you to click on a link to get software updates. If you get such an email, it’s bogus.