Updating Windows

Some people don't think updating windows matters and obviously, if you have a pirate copy of windows you won't be able to do this!

Making sure that Windows and DirectX are fully up to date can save you time troubleshooting game problems later on. Here are a few examples of where windows updating early can save time later!

• The .net framework updates - yes these can be quite large sometimes but there are some games where this is absolutely necessary. Anything made in XNA (The xbox 360 framework which can also be used to make windows games) is going to need this just for starters. With updates being made to this all the time it's important to make sure everything is at the current version.
  


• Security Updates - Not all game websites are going to be friendly! If you're like me and tries out new game websites every other day then you'd better keep this up to date. Obviously most are safe but it's always best to be careful, just in case.
  


• Silverlight updates - the new flash-wanna-be from Microsoft is starting to attract a bit more attention. Although this isn't critical and it will probably warn you it's out of date, it's time saving to make sure this is updated on a regular basis with everything else.

These are just examples of why it's worth keeping windows up to date. Microsoft are always introducing small "improvements" all the time so who knows what affect the games or software you're trying to run!

Obviously it also helps to keep your drivers updated such as the ones for your graphics card or sound card. I'm sure some people reading will remember the Creative Labs/HalfLife2 problems from a while ago.

DirectX information

Quite often when getting support from an official source they will ask you for your "DirectX diagnostics". Doing this is actually quite simple and only takes a couple of minutes:

• Click on the start menu button and select run (or click into the search bar on the new vista start menu).
  


• Type the word "dxdiag" and press enter. This should open up a new window. If not then you may not have directX installed!
  


• A progress bar will have started in the bottom left of this window. Once it has dissapeared it means that directX has already gathered all the information it requires!
  


• Click on the "Save All Information" button. It will prompt you for a location to save your diagnostic information. This is the file that most support people will be after!