Do you turn on "Auto update"?

New computer usually work perfectly. If everything is working well, why update? It seems to me that updates take up hard drive space and can sometimes do more harms than good. Am I wrong?

 

Updating your computer is very important. By either checking Windows Update periodically or having Windows Update automatically install updates for you, you ensure that any security holes in Windows (and other Microsoft programs if you opted into Microsoft Update) are patched. Without the patches, your "perfectly running" computer could literally be a sitting duck to attackers.

Also, Windows Update can also give you performance and reliability updates as well, making your computer run even better, and increasing compatibility with software that might not have worked before. Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista contained many of these.

Finally, some software requires you to have previous updates installed.

It's a good idea to leave Automatic Updates turned on.

Ricky

 

^^ What he said. I couldn't say it any better

 

There are possibly some positive aspects - and of course the security aspects.

However - the boffins at Microsoft sometimes mess thing up - I had updates destroy my EOS 400D drivers, so that I got a BSOD when I connected, and then switched the camera on...

I've got my updates on Auto check but only download and instal if I tell it to do so. I thinkt that's the best option, as it means you won't find you restart, and your computer is configuring updates for 30 odd minutes or so (worst case sczenario)

 

One of the best examples of why updates need to be applied when released is the blaster virus. There was an update to fix the hole it used to attack a system a few weeks before the virus was released. Those that updated were immune to its effects but those that did not got hit hard.

I only do automatic updates to software and manually do driver updates from the manufacturers website itself. I know that on 2 of my systems there are windows updates for the network card that if I apply them I will then have to roll them back to regain my network connection.

 

I turned updates off couse i don't need them, everything works perfect without them

 

No auto-updates for me. I manually check Windows Update everyday and check to see if any of them has caused any issues before installing. At best, I would have it on auto-check.

That's probably not a good idea...

 

Why don't you set it so that Windows checks automatically without downloading or installing?

That's what I've got.

 

It will prevent one svchost.exe process spiking up the CPU at start up.

 

I am not able to set auto-updates because of the proxy server at work (nobody can do it either, so it's not just me)... so I scheduled the WU screen to pop-up every 2 days... its an (almost)auto-update... pathetic...

 

Oh - good to know.

However... I couldn't be bothered to search for updates.. so I think I'll leave mine as it is for now.

Thanks for the info though.

 

I have it set to notify me when I have updates, but I choose when to install them. I'd really rather not be told over and over I have to reboot.

 

I prefer to have them off so that Windows doesn't spontaneously reboot on me, which it has done before. Working on a paper/programming assignment/playing a game, whatever, with unsaved data up, you go to grab dinner, come back and find the desktop there instead of what you had up there. Go to Run->cmd->uptime /s and find out it's rebooted, check the installed components and find out an update restarted the system on you. Not a pleasant experience.

So until I recently reinstalled XP for snappier performance, I had manually removed Automatic Updates to the point that they didn't show up in Control Panel, and manually downloaded them every so often. Generally speaking, setting it to anything other than "Auto download and install" should be safe, though. Right now I've got it on Turn Off because I just installed XP SP2 and I know there's a service pack and a whole bunch of stuff to install and don't need it telling me all that - I'll install it when I've got the chance.

I generally take the view that if you don't visit risky sites there's not a pressing need to keep your system totally updated. Of course that's not entirely true, but it's definitely partially true.

Also, I'm not entirely sure about this, but Automatic Updates says it will download any recommended updates, not just "important" or "critical" ones. Which means it may install updates to software when you actually prefer the old version.

 

I leave it on. So far, so good.

 

Automatic download but manual install to avoid more CPU usage during gaming. Also to avoid computer restart

 

Automatic update setting doesn't restart the system automatically.

 

I have it set at exact same settings. I never install drivers update via Microsoft Windows Update program. I've had bad experiences in the past using it for drivers and now update my drivers separately via the manufacturer.

 

It used to do that on XP. You get a popup after a while and if you don't touch anything, depending on the updates, it will restart automatically. Vista postpone feature is a nice improvement although there is still a popup that will kill my fullscreen game

 

It still restarts automatically on Vista. If there are updates and you don't restart it for a while, you'll get the popup that livesoft mentioned. Yeah there's the postpone feature, but if you don't do anything, it restarts. I've had it do that while I was away from my computer for a while.

 

I think it's better to be safe than sorry.

If I do a clean install, I turn the Auto Update OFF until I'm ready to install them. I usually wait until I have MS Office and Visual Studio so MS Updates can grab those too.

 

everything on everywhere. on vista, never even felt while it downloaded or installed on any system. i _do_ turn it off on some slow systems with 1 core and xp on, as it can really block the system after boot for a long time..