A virtual or a dedicated hosting server is a standalone machine, that has its own Os and always keeping the latter up-to-date is an important, although underrated task. Not only can an update boost the overall performance of your websites, but it could also save you a great deal of troubles in the future. An update can be released for several reasons, the most frequent being to fix newly found security holes, which may permit third-party individuals to access and modify the content you have on the hosting machine. You might also see an improved performance of your web apps because updates may also be released for better compatibility between the Os and the configuration it functions on so as to get the most out of the hardware. Furthermore, if you keep your applications up-to-date, they could need a later OS version that will have the necessary software dependencies and will enable them to operate adequately.