I have Anaconda installed (Python 2.7.11 |Anaconda custom (64-bit)| (default, Feb 16 2016, 09:58:36) [MSC v.1500 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32) and I am using Spyder 2.3.8

Would like to update Spyder to the latest version, so I went through the commands:

conda update conda
conda update anaconda
conda update spyder

They all ran without errors, but the spyder version didn't change - this is command I'm using to launch:

C:\Anaconda2\pythonw.exe C:\Anaconda2\cwp.py C:\Anaconda2 "C:/Anaconda2/pythonw.exe" "C:/Anaconda2/Scripts/spyder-script.py" --new-instance

Am I missing something?

To expand on juanpa.arrivillaga's comment:

If you want to update Spyder in the root environment, then conda update spyder works for me.

If you want to update Spyder for a virtual environment you have created (e.g., for a different version of Python), then conda update -n $ENV_NAME spyder where $ENV_NAME is your environment name.

EDIT: In case conda update spyder isn't working, this post indicates you might need to run conda update anaconda before updating spyder. Also note that you can specify an exact spyder version if you want.