Each and every virtual or dedicated hosting machine has its own Operating System and works independently from the hosting machines of other customers. Updating the Operating system is often overlooked, but doing that could have a wide range of advantages for your websites. The most essential reason to employ the most up-to-date version is that patches are typically released to deal with security holes in the Operating System code, so if you don't install the updates, you risk people with harmful intentions to take advantage of these holes and to access your content. Operating system updates are also released for improved efficiency of the system overall and for better compatibility with the hardware on the market, which could immediately affect the efficiency of your sites. If the functionality and the security of your scripts is the reason to update them, you might also know that their newest versions require an updated Operating System in order to function properly, therefore keeping the Operating system up-to-date is always wise.