The automatic update feature from the Options menu will allow the client side of HSpot to update itself if, when starting up, it detects that a newer version is available at the HSC; new versions are released at regular intervals as bugs are reported and fixed and additional functionality is added to HSpot. In general these new releases will be planned well in advance and will coincide with project milestones, but additional releases may be made if important bugs that would affect many users are found and fixed.

HSpot will access the updated files at the HSC via the Internet and will automatically install them on your computer. Auto-update is the default setting when you first install HSpot. If you turn this feature off, or decline an auto-update at any time, HSpot will remember that you have turned it off. We advise strongly users to leave auto-update turned on and to accept auto-updates when they occur to ensure that their HSpot version does not become outdated.

Note

Time estimator version changes may occur occasionally even when the HSpot version does not change. These you will see when starting a new session: a pop-up will appear to give the details of the new time estimator version. The time estimator is linked to the latest version of the code (the "CUS") that controls the instruments and sets the observation parameters. Usually these changes do not affect the duration of observations, but do affect how their set-up is made, so they are important for the observations. When your AORs have not be estimated with the latest time estimator version the estimates will appear in red as out of date. It is important to keep the time estimates up to date.