How to Get Official Microsoft Outlook Updates

Even though Outlook 2007 is a mature product, there has been a constant stream of Microsoft Outlook updates being published. This is great news since it means that Microsoft is putting real effort into maintaining Outlook by fixing bugs and protecting you against spam (junk email). And with Outlook 2010 just beginning its product life, there will be even more updates coming.

But this means to get the full benefit, you need to keep installing these updates as they come along.

While Microsoft has tried to make this process easy and smooth, it still isn't intuitive or without quirks.

They claimed to contain an important Outlook update as an attachment and directed recipients to open the attachment immediately. Anyone who did this got not an update, but a trojan (a form of nasty software) along with a fake anti-virus program.

It made a mess for those who got caught by the trick. NEVER install any updates that come to you by email, no matter how legitimate they appear to be. Follow the instructions here instead.

And now with that unpleasantness out of the way...

This section of Living With Outlook gives you the information you need to check for, download, and install Outlook updates as easily as possible. You start by checking for updates

I recommend that you check for updates about once a week. It only takes a moment to do if there aren't updates available.

If there are updates available, you want to get them installed as soon as possible. As always, setting up a recurring task is the best way to remember to do this.

NOTE: If you need help setting up a recurring task, this page has all the details.

While dealing with endless Microsoft Outlook updates may be a pain in the neck, over time you will be rewarded with a better-running program and less spam than you would otherwise have to deal with. The reduced amount of spam alone makes keeping Outlook updated a net time saver.

What about Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)?

You may have heard something about Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), a controversial initiative by Microsoft that gets installed onto your computer during updates. I don't want to get too deep into this subject (after all, this is Living With Outlook, not Living With Windows), but if you would like some information on it, from the perspective of an Outlook user, I've added some WGA information

From here you can:

Return to the Living With Outlook home page.

Return to the top of this Microsoft Outlook Updates page.