safe to upgrade Electrum??

[QPlondon]

Any advice hugely appreciated! 

I'm running Electrum 2.9.0 on my old Mac and when I try to send BTC to an exchange it hangs on 'Synchronizing'?
Is it safe to upgrade Electrum on the same machine?
Should I try on a different machine first?
Or start again with the seed?

Thanks so much!

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[hosseinimr93]

Note that electrum versions older than 3.3.4 are vulnerable to a phishing attack in which the server can display a message and ask you to download a fake version of electrum.
So, ignore any message you see on electrum asking you to update the wallet.

If you want to update electrum, go to its official website. Download electrum from there and don't forget to verify your download.

Is it safe to upgrade Electrum on the same machine?

If you want to be completely secure, you should have your electrum wallet on an airgapped device. If your wallet has been already connected to the internet, I don't think that makes much difference whether you install the new version on the same device or not.

If you have two devices and you think one of them is more secure than the other one, it's obvious that you should use the more secure one.

[Stalker22]

No worries about starting from scratch with the seed! Just head over to the official website and grab the latest software version (and, as hosseinimr93 suggested, make sure to verify it after downloading). Unzip the downloaded archive into a folder of your choice. Once you launch the application, you will be prompted to either open an existing wallet or create a new one. Just locate your current wallet file and open it. It is as simple as that!

[UchihaSarada]

Is it safe to upgrade Electrum on the same machine?
Should I try on a different machine first?
Or start again with the seed?

Safe or unsafe, it depends on you, how you upgrade your wallet.

Download it from Electrum official website.
Verify what you download with GPG signatures.

If you are worrying about risk, you can find and delete all your Electrum wallet file before downloading and installing a new version. Before deleting wallet file, check that you have backups and they work.

Where is the Electrum data directory located?

[BitMaxz]

Is it safe to upgrade Electrum on the same machine?
Should I try on a different machine first?
Or start again with the seed?

It depends on your PC and maybe your PC is already infected with virus/malware.

If I were you better to reformat and install a fresh OS in your PC to make sure your wallet is safe before you install Electrum and restore your wallet with your seed backup.
Just don't forget to verify the installer first as suggested above before you install.

[Aikidoka]

Any advice hugely appreciated! 

I'm running Electrum 2.9.0 on my old Mac and when I try to send BTC to an exchange it hangs on 'Synchronizing'?
Is it safe to upgrade Electrum on the same machine?
Should I try on a different machine first?
Or start again with the seed?

Thanks so much!

Please make sure that you upgrade your Electrum wallet using the official Electrum website and be sure to verify its authenticity before use. As for trying it on a different machine there may not be a need to do so since your old Mac is already secure (assuming it's already secure)

A better alternative:

It could be better to make your old Mac as an airgapped device. By doing so you can create a new wallet on it and transfer all your funds to that wallet, this method ensures that your wallet remains disconnected from the internet providing an extra layer of protection.

[alterra57]

Start over, that's a very old version that is known to be flawed. Download a fresh copy instead of updating this one, then use the seed to import your wallet.

[UchihaSarada]

Don't rely on a wallet software notification and link to upgrade it. You must check it at official website before you upgrade your wallet. Verify.

Electrum vulnerability allows arbitrary messages, phishing
[GUIDE] How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum [Guide]

[Agbe]

Is it safe to upgrade Electrum on the same machine?
Should I try on a different machine first?
Or start again with the seed?

Thanks so much!

You can use the same device to upgrade the wallet to the latest one and that was what I did as well. There are three ways which one can use to upgrade app from a mobile device. You can upgrade it from the app directly, or from the phone settings or from the google play store. And the fastest way to do that is the google play store. When you enter the play store, you type the name of the wallet and you click update. And that is all.