Today’s Question: The Adobe Creative Cloud application recently showed a popup indicating that applications could be updated automatically if I’d like. Do you recommend enabling this option?
Tim’s Quick Answer: While in theory I always want to have the latest updates for the Creative Cloud applications, I prefer not to enable automatic updates. Instead, I recommend waiting at least a couple of days to get a sense of whether an update will create any problems.
More Detail: New software updates are generally aimed at providing new features or fixing existing problems, there is always a chance that a new update will create problems. For example, I’ve heard from several photographers who are having trouble with the latest 2019 updates to Photoshop and other Creative Cloud applications.
If there are significant problems with an update, it is somewhat common that a new update will be released faster than had otherwise been planned, in order to address (and hopefully solve) the problems. In that type of situation, it would obviously be better to wait for the second update rather than the initial update.
So, whenever an update is available, I recommend waiting a few days so you can get a sense of whether there are problems with that update. You will generally find that those who installed the update and are having problems will share that information in forums or social media sites. Even a quick search on Google can often provide a sense of whether a new update is problematic.
A few days after an update is available, if there are no indications of problems, then I feel comfortable installing the update.