Automatic Updates - Save speed or do the updates?

[bigcomp]

I am a little confused, since I enabled automatic updates in my previous windows, it slowed it down.

Now I have a fresh install and I am wondering should I enable them or not, either get the speed at the cost of lowering windows quality or are they really important for my hardware.

 

[johnb35]

Most the windows updates are actually security updates which patches your system to block intrusion by malware/viruses/hackers. I would definately run windows updates, maybe not automatically but you might want to visit the windows update website and update manually.

 

[tremmor]

i have updates also available but with approval. I check the updates and always take security and critical. I look at the others available and read the detail about the update. if it does not apply to me i also do not use it.

same with bios updates. find and check whats available.
will it make my motherboard faster or is it critical?
Make it faster and better. some updates are for specific hardware that i might not have or need.

Flashing is risky business. only when i need it and applies to maybe a specific problem.

 

[Remeniz]

Mmmm. I have never allowed updates on XP Pro and didn't get a single security issue with it.

Oh, and I've been running Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate for more than a month now and even though it's telling me about available updates I haven't downloaded them. Although I will download specific updates for software.

I'm very sceptical when people say that 'Windows Updates are important security updates'.

And to think i've done without them for so long without a sneeze....

 

[tremmor]

you can view the update and see who needs it and should get it.
Critical, security or hardware if it applies to you. You can pick and choose which one. i would not ignore all. always click on details about the update.

 

[Method9]

Mmmm. I have never allowed updates on XP Pro and didn't get a single security issue with it. . .

This reminds me of one of those comments, "I've been smoking cigarettes for 85 years and I'm fine."

A user doesn't even need to visit a Website if he or she has no 3rd party firewall and hasn't updated to SP2 yet, for example. The user will be port scanned and Sassered.

If computer users had kept up to date on patches, nobody would ever have been afflicted with Conficker.

You must be using a firewall and are a careful Web surfer. More careful than--oh let's see: the French Navy, the UK Ministry of Defence, the German armed forces, and about 7 million other users.

Microsoft found a serious vulnerability and patched it. Conficker was written by reverse engineering this patch a few days later. All of those infections could have been prevented by enabling updates in the first place.

 

[Remeniz]

This reminds me of one of those comments, "I've been smoking cigarettes for 85 years and I'm fine."

Wrong analogy because I'm not doing anything wrong with my machine; Smoking is damaging to your health even though you may live till 150!

I simply have chosen not to install OS updates. A bit like not having the TB jab when your a child and realising at 60 that you didn't have that TB jab when you were a child; hey your fine.

I'm not just saying 'don't install the updates'. For me not installing them has done me no harm, thats all.