How do I upgrade my existing Joomla! installation?

The developers of Joomla! regularly issue patches that upgrade existing installations to the latest stable version.  These patches do not involve any changes to the structure of your database tables.

To patch your installation:

1. Log into your Joomla! installation
2. Take your Joomla! offline temporarily:
   1. Click Site
   2. Click Global Configuration
   3. Click Site Settings
   4. Click Site Offline
   5. Click Yes
   6. Do not log out of Joomla! while the site is offline
3. Log into your eXtend Control Panel and back up your website and database:
   1. Click Backup/Restore
   2. Click Create Full Backup
   3. The backup will download onto your computer
   4. Click the link above the Create Full Backup button to go to the databases page
   5. Scroll down to Manage MySQL Databases
   6. Click Backup
   7. The database will also download onto your computer
4. If your patch installation fails at any time, you can restore your site to this point by restoring the backups through the eXtend Control Panel
5. Go to the Joomla! website: www.joomla.org
6. Click Download
7. Click Upgrade Packages
8. Select the tar.bz2, tar.gz, or .zip file that is appropriate for your update (refer to the version number in your current installation of Joomla! to determine which you should download)
9. Return to your eXtend Control Panel
10. Click File Manager
11. Select the directory that is the root of your Joomla! installation
12. Click the Upload Up Arrow icon
13. Upload the upgrade package you downloaded from the Joomla! website
14. Select the uploaded package
15. Click the Unpack Box icon
16. The upgrade package will be installed
17. Return to your Joomla! administrative page.
18. Click Refresh in your browser
19. The new version number should appear at the top right of the window
20. Bring your site back online through the Site Settings page