Here's a list of things and procedures Apple suggests when you want to install software on your Mac,
Software Installation Quick Assist.
A couple of things that Knowledge Base Article fails to mention is:
- make sure what you are about to install respects your
computer specs and OS version
- run Apple's Disk Utility to ensure that your hard drive is in excellent health and repair disk permissions just in case it is needed
- always make a backup before installing any updates (reasons for this are simple: if anything is incompatible or doesn't work, you can always revert to your previous installation. The best backup solution is the SuperDuper! app and an external hard drive)
- before installing the OS updates, unplug all peripherals (except, of course, mouse and keyboard), make sure you have quit all other applications.
This should minimize anything that potentially could go wrong.
Good luck! :girl: