Annoyed by those constant system updates that seem to happen at the most inconvenient of times? Don’t be. They might feel arbitrary or even pointless, but behind the scenes those updates are actively protecting you against dangerous vulnerabilities in your existing system. As a matter of fact, one or several of them have already saved you from malware and hackers without your knowledge, guaranteed.

Still not convinced? On May 14th, Microsoft released a patch for a potential and critical vulnerability for versions of Windows prior to Windows 8. The issue was serious enough that the fix was even issued for much older versions of the operating system (which have long since stopped receiving updates).

You may have quickly installed this update out of obligation with a roll of your eyes, but it may very well have protected you from a world of trouble. Consider this the next time your system prompts you! If you’re looking to be proactive, you can check for updates regularly by opening up your control panel, searching “windows updates” in the search bar, then clicking “check for updates”.