Windows Updates, do you allow them?

Hey GB

After many years.I have decided to run windows 7 updates on my machine, only to see no difference in performance or well problem solving. This makes me ask, is it really worth waiting that 30 minutes of install time and do you even bother running these updates?

I've set it to manually let me select which of the suggested updates to download and install, and it's worked out just fine for me.

I install the recommended ones that come through it like the security updates.

I let it install....I don't notice anything different but whatever I guess

It never takes me thirty minutes, more like 5, including the restart time.

Being a guy who is in the IT field, yes I do update them but like @Funkydupe I do it manually. Also I should point out that security updates will probably never make your computer go faster :P

As for performance, I think AMD's FX processor recently in the last few months received an update allowing core parking?

Yep. Majority of them are just security updates that are always nice to have.

@harinosho said:

Hey GB

After many years.I have decided to run windows 7 updates on my machine, only to see no difference in performance or well problem solving. This makes me ask, is it really worth waiting that 30 minutes of install time and do you even bother running these updates?

Have you seriously not updated this whole time? Jesus you must be a security nightmare o_0. Updates aren't just about fixing up bugs, they're about patching major security holes in the OS.

Of course, I look at the updates before installing though, but the majority of updates are to security. I don't see any good reasons not to updating.

@Korwin said:

@harinosho said:

Hey GB

After many years.I have decided to run windows 7 updates on my machine, only to see no difference in performance or well problem solving. This makes me ask, is it really worth waiting that 30 minutes of install time and do you even bother running these updates?

Have you seriously not updated this whole time? Jesus you must be a security nightmare o_0. Updates aren't just about fixing up bugs, they're about patching major security holes in the OS.

Lol, Yeah man.. I had nothing else to do, then when I entered the control panel I thought.. what the hell and ran it.

Thing is, when I had windows XP, each time an Update occurred, my machine just froze and had blue screens at random.. had to keep running a system restore.

Yes I do, it never hurts unless it's something weird like Bing Desktop.

I select what gets updated, but I allow them automatically. Sometimes I wish I didn't though. There have been times, like this past Friday, where I'm playing Borderlands 2 with some friends after we get home and Windows in it's infinite knowledge decides to reboot my fucking computer when we're in the middle of a boss fight. Then I get flooded with text messages asking me what in the fuck happened because I disconnected from Skype, WLM, and Steam. It even did it in Skyrim when I was fighting Alduin at the end of the main quests. Kind of wanted to punch somebody there since that was 2 hours that I had to redo. Maybe I should change those settings though.

One time I installed the movie program from Windows Live Essentials to do some light video editing, which little did i know checked the box to install windows updates automatically (I had previously left it unchecked). So on my next boot up, some updates were installed, which drastically slowed down my boot time. I uninstalled the updates but my computer's been slower ever since.

TLDR: Fuck no if I can help it.

My computer's pretty messed up. I have a 360 controller plugged in, but if I wiggle the cable a bit, my PC blue screens. Something about a driver failure. I should probably do something about that. To address the topic: Windows Update runs every weekday around noon -- the only time I'm certain to be either asleep or in school.

I can't. There's some type of problem that won't allow updates to take, even if I download and install them manually.

It shut down my game of Bastion once, and I was well into one of the "Who Knows Where?" levels, and that was frustrating.

I told my computer to never install or download them, and stop bugging me about it. The last time i installed a windows update it broke my computer lol

As an IT guy, this thread makes me incredibly sad.

Just install the fucking updates. They release them for a reason.

Always update for security reasons. They fix the exploits people use to mess up your machine.

Duders.

If you gotta update, update. Yeah, you can put it off for a little while, but when new updates are available it's best to update. If your computer crashes after an update then something went horribly wrong and either you need to find out what wrong, or you need to go find someone who can help you find out what wrong, instead of just stopping updates altogether. No, your computer is not just fine when there are major year old security loopholes in there, and it's not fine when you just do a system restore after an update and it works again.

Sorry, I work fixing computers and it's baffling when people go "my computer doesn't work anymore" and I turn it on to see that they've taken absolutely no steps to make it any more secure. That's like going to a cheap house of ill repute without any protection whatsoever.

i update them when i have time. sometimes it ends up being a problem. i don't know that other programs have updates so when i restart then the other programs update. it takes like 10 minutes of not touching the computer for all of the updates.

You should ALWAYS update your Windows. However, I would highly recommend to disable automatic updates and just have Windows just notify you so you can install them manually so it won't install things you don't want and do stuff in the background without your knowledge.

People who never update have no right to ever complain when they have a horrible piece of malware on their system.

Seriously, you people are the PC owners that the stupid mac vs. pc commercials were making fun of. If you do simple basic things to your computer you should never have any software problems.

What reason is there to not turn on automatic updates and just forget about it forever? My computer has never had a problem since I got it 4 years ago (save for the audio jack breaking and a key falling off, but that digresses from the topic at hand............or does it?).

I just tell mine to manually let me install updates. I don't need that monthly Malicious Software Removal Tool.

They're almost always security holes that are being plugged, so fuck yeah I install em.

@harinosho said:

Hey GB

After many years.I have decided to run windows 7 updates on my machine, only to see no difference in performance or well problem solving. This makes me ask, is it really worth waiting that 30 minutes of install time and do you even bother running these updates?

What kind of crappy computer do you have where YOU have to WAIT for the installation of Windows updates? I keep doing everything as usual until there's a need for restart to finalize some updates. Seriously dumb not to update. It's like not changing oil or any other regular maintenance for your car.

@Barrock said:

As an IT guy, this thread makes me incredibly sad.

Just install the fucking updates. They release them for a reason.

^This. Totally. Fucking. This.

@Ocean_H said:

@harinosho said:

Hey GB

After many years.I have decided to run windows 7 updates on my machine, only to see no difference in performance or well problem solving. This makes me ask, is it really worth waiting that 30 minutes of install time and do you even bother running these updates?

What kind of crappy computer do you have where YOU have to WAIT for the installation of Windows updates? I keep doing everything as usual until there's a need for restart to finalize some updates. Seriously dumb not to update. It's like not changing oil or any other regular maintenance for your car.

@Barrock said:

As an IT guy, this thread makes me incredibly sad.

Just install the fucking updates. They release them for a reason.

^This. Totally. Fucking. This.

It wasnt like I chose not to update windwos 7, just never really bothered going through checking if automatic updates were on (gues when I bought the machien it was tunred off, i dunno), and when messed around the machine I enabled them, see what i have been missing.

Also the updates were already installed before posting the OP. Not sure where the anger comes from.

@Funkydupe said:

I've set it to manually let me select which of the suggested updates to download and install, and it's worked out just fine for me.

Same. Every 6 months or so I end up just choosing the only really important ones. Everything else I kind ignore.

@Barrock said:

As an IT guy, this thread makes me incredibly sad.

Just install the fucking updates. They release them for a reason.

This. The patches are there for a reason. Things like Bing Desktop always show up as an optional download, and don't automatically install. Even Microsoft Security Essentials is categorized as optional, which I think should be required if your machine isn't currently running any sort of protection. Occasionally, and rarely, an update will cause a problem. But they can be uninstalled and Windows creates a restore point before installing any updates, so rolling back is pretty easy.

Some updates, like .Net updates, take forever to install. And subsequent boot time might be longer, but this is temporary and a small price to pay to be sure that that shady website with that "registry cleaner" or Windows theme hack you've found doesn't install a keylogger or other malicious software.

Install your updates.

@harinosho said:

@Ocean_H said:

@harinosho said:

Hey GB

After many years.I have decided to run windows 7 updates on my machine, only to see no difference in performance or well problem solving. This makes me ask, is it really worth waiting that 30 minutes of install time and do you even bother running these updates?

What kind of crappy computer do you have where YOU have to WAIT for the installation of Windows updates? I keep doing everything as usual until there's a need for restart to finalize some updates. Seriously dumb not to update. It's like not changing oil or any other regular maintenance for your car.

@Barrock said:

As an IT guy, this thread makes me incredibly sad.

Just install the fucking updates. They release them for a reason.

^This. Totally. Fucking. This.

It wasnt like I chose not to update windwos 7, just never really bothered going through checking if automatic updates were on (gues when I bought the machien it was tunred off, i dunno), and when messed around the machine I enabled them, see what i have been missing.

Also the updates were already installed before posting the OP. Not sure where the anger comes from.

The anger was less directed at you, and more at the guy before me that said he told his computer to never install updates because they broke his computer.

You know what, continue not installing them. Survival of the fittest.

Viruses, do you allow them?

if you don't use Windows Update you bet you do.

yep but dont let my pc restart

I'm scared I might catch something just from reading this thread.

Could the reason your system is taking 30 minutes to download and install updates be that it's far too busy sending out emails from Nigerian princes without your knowledge?

I always update, just because. But I have never had any of those weird problems that you all have had from updating :/.

Quick question, do any of you guys buy new hard drives when building a new machine and getting rid of one thats a year old or just format and move the drive to the newer machine?

@harinosho said:

Quick question, do any of you guys buy new hard drives when building a new machine and getting rid of one thats a year old or just format and move the drive to the newer machine?

Do you mean replace your older working HDD just because you are building a new machine?

If that's what you mean than no, not exactly.

My last rebuild I got an SSD for the OS and used my previous mechanical HDD just for storage and other software/games I don't want hogging space on the SSD.

I wouldn't just replace a HDD just for the sake of it, would need a reason like failure or space requirements.

I've recently pulled data off some HDDs I used back in the late 90s, sometimes they can last a long while w/out issues.

Edit: As a former IT guy still looking for an IT job, yes on all security updates but I tell Windows to notify me before downloading anything.

Edit2: I never let Windows update my video drivers though, had some bad experiences back in the day and never trusted it since.

Most of the other stuff Windows Update pushes to ya is worth updating though, like said previously, they're there for a reason.

Just update, it's worth it.