Updating the Teams App

Whilst running updates on any device can feel like a total inconvenience and general pain, we assure you that the pain is much less than an attack on your computer through ‘unpatched’ software. Updates help to ensure that your computer has protection from the latest exploits and vulnerabilities that security researchers locate. Running regular updates is a really good way to stay safe and secure online, even if you use a separate anti-virus/anti-malware app.

Updates and ‘patches’ are run directly from Microsoft (the developers of Teams) and there is no cost for this providing you have a valid and legitimate Teams login. A ‘patch’ is a software term for a fix that is applied to the computer in order to repair or close a security hole, hence the term patch.

For information on running updates to Windows 10 itself, please visit this article.

Here’s how you can check for any updates in Teams, and run them.

Microsoft Teams Updates

1. Open your Teams app on your Windows computer as you normally would.
2. Once you have launched Teams, click on your name at the top right corner of the window. If you do not have a picture set, this may just be a letter of your first name.
   
3. On the dropdown menu that will appear, select the ‘Check for Updates’ option.
   
4. A notification bar will appear at the top of your screen to advise you that Teams is working on updates in the background. This will automatically disappear after a short time once updates have been checked or completed. These almost always run silently in the background, so you can carry on working.
   

Please note: As you can probably tell, a majority of Teams updates run automatically in the background. Teams updates should not require a reboot, however if you have a key meeting coming up, it might be wise to check for any updates well in advance of these meetings!