Everytime there's a new versions, servers get updated, and the number of servers running the previous version is reduced.
At some point (after a couple of days) I notice that my client is not connecte anymore.... and I have to restart it and check for new version, only to realize that my client is outdated and has a limited number of servers to connect to...
that is odd, as far as i know Electrum servers do not reject you if you have an old version. nothing has changed in that regards for connecting to a server, asking them for block headers and your history and transactions!
so you may have connectivity issue and that has nothing to do with your version.
If there's a new version out you do get a message in the status bar at the bottom of the electrum window. This feature has been present for many many versions now so I can only assume that you have a really outdated version of electrum installed.
I don't see this message when using the Standalone Executable in the bottom bar at all. Where exactly is it shown at?
Sorry my bad. It used to show near the balance. Maybe it was removed in recent versions or maybe it's only used for critical updates.
last time i saw this message (i think) it was version 2.5.4 and since it is not really mandatory to upgrade each time a new version comes out (although it is best to do so) i don't think such feature is really needed.