Facebook is the largest social network that we can find today on the web. Billions of users visit this social network daily. And, furthermore, with the new concept of the metaverse in which its creator is working, we can all be much more connected within its own virtual universe. The most common, when we use a PC, is to enter this social network from the browser. However, we can also install different applications on the PC, as if it were a smartphone, from which we will be able to visit the social network more comfortably.
When we talk about applications, we always recommend having the latest version of all of them installed on the PC, but do we know why? Updating Windows apps, just like on a mobile, not only allows us to enjoy the latest features and news that developers have added, but also allows us to enjoy the latest fixes, performance improvements, and above all security, that have been added. Taking the latter into account in particular, updating applications that move a large amount of personal data, such as Facebook, is essential to be able to use this social platform in the safest way possible.
Always up to date from your website
When we enter this social network from its website we can be sure that we are always up to date. By doing it from the browser, and loading all the information directly from the company’s servers, our PC always receives the latest version of it, with all the changes that may have been included since the last time we visited it, whether they are corrections of bugs or performance improvements, or just new emojis.
If we want to make sure that we use the latest version of Facebook in the browser, we can also take advantage of it and delete the temporary files and the cache . In this way we can delete all the information on the web that is stored on the PC. In the case of Google Chrome, for example, we can easily do this by typing “chrome://settings/clearBrowserData” in the address bar, and choosing the data we want to delete (especially site data and saved files and images).
The process is the same for other web browsers. For example, in the case of Edge we must write in the address bar “edge://settings/clearBrowserData”, while in Firefox, the internal URL to clear the data is “about:preferences#privacy”.
The next time we open Facebook again, the social network will load from scratch, and we will make sure that the information we see is always up to date.
Download and update Facebook on Windows
Facebook has long had an app for Windows . However, in 2020, the company decided to discontinue its original app, leaving PC users hanging and unable to download or update the social network app on Windows. Luckily, those responsible for the social network decided, a year later, to remedy this error by launching a new, modern Facebook application for Windows 10 and Windows 11.
This app uses PWA technology , that is, it is a web application where, instead of having all the information stored inside its package, it receives the information directly from the server every time we access it. This new PWA application is identical to the web version that we can load from our browser. All the elements and all the functions and tools will be within our reach from it. Thanks to this application we will be able to read all the publications, see our notifications, search for and follow people, share comments, photos and videos, start a chat… absolutely the same thing that we can do from the browser.
In addition, as it is a native app for Windows, we will be able to have other advantages as well. For example, the possibility of anchoring it to the taskbar, and even activating notifications from the operating system.
We can download this app completely free of charge from the Microsoft Store. And the only thing we need to be able to use it is to have a modern version of Windows 10, or the new Windows 11.
Once this app is installed on the computer, we no longer have to worry. This PWA will save the necessary data on our computer, in cache mode, to speed up loading when we go to work with it. And, when there are news, it will automatically download them the moment it communicates with the server.
Also, if Facebook launches a new version of its application , we will also be able to update it from the store itself. Typically, Windows is set to receive app updates automatically from this store. But, if we want to search for and install new versions by hand, we will also be able to do so. We simply have to open the Windows store, go to the applications section, and click on the ” Get updates ” button.
The program will search for new versions of all the installed apps, and will take care of automatically downloading all the updates that are available. Thus, in a few minutes, we will be able to have our PC up to date and update Facebook, and all the other applications, to their latest version.
Create your own PWA
If you don’t want to use the Facebook application from the Microsoft Store, there is a little trick that will allow us to use this social network in a much more comfortable and better way: create a PWA . As we have already explained, progressive web applications stand out for being based on a web engine (generally Chromium), and on top of it load the programs that we want.
To do this, we are simply going to need a web browser, in our case Microsoft Edge . Microsoft’s browser, included in Windows, allows the installation of these PWAs much more easily than its rivals. We access the website in question (in our case, Facebook), and choose, within the browser menu, the option ” Applications > Install this site as an application “.
We will automatically have Facebook installed on the computer as if it were just another application. We can place the direct access icon where we want and enter the social network by double clicking on it. Easier and faster impossible.
And best of all, we won’t have to worry about updating Facebook. These types of applications are always up-to-date and state-of-the-art as they depend 100% on the web’s backend server.
