Win Update question

I install all critical updates.
What I want to know is about other updates not critical like : Update for Jet 4.0 Service Pack 8 (KB829558)
Should I take all the update site offers after it scans my pc?

 

Vonnie, if you're in doubt whether or not you need a noncritical update, click on the "read more" button then keep clicking until you understand what the update is all about. For example, the update you mention is related to M$ Access. If you use that program, then you need that update. If you don't then don't worry about it, it will be there if in the future if you do. It's always a good idea to read about all the updates, even the critical ones, so you understand what they are concerned with.

 

The WU site offers you two kinds of patches: Critical and Recommended.

There are three schools of thought about the Recommended (non-Critical) ones:
1. Fuggeddaboudit. Ignore 'em.
2. Take 'em all. You KNOW MS wouldn't offer you anything that isn't GOOD for you!
3. Do your best to make intelligent decisions. Take what you will use, leave what you won't, and ask for help when you don't know the difference.

The #1 people tend to be pretty extreme about everything, not just WU.
The #2 people are mostly in asylums for the hopelessly bewildered.
The #3 people are a good crowd to mingle with.

Today, WU offers me these that I don't think I need. I choose to ignore them:

The Jet update you mentioned. If it involved system files I needed to update to keep my machine working properly or to protect it, it shouldn't be over there in a sidebar. It relates to MS Access. I don't use Access. Never have. It came pre-installed, and it would be dangerous to try to wipe it and preserve the other things I need, like Word, at the same time, so I leave Access alone and it returns the courtesy. If the update files are found to be necessary in the future, they'll get migrated to the Critical category.

USB 1.1 and 2.0 availability. I'm using USB 2.0 all over the place with no probs. Why mess with it?

Error Reporting. That was one of the first things I killed on my first installation of XP. I'll never use it, I don't need it, and I ain't gonna help it work better.

A new icon for setting Program Access and Defaults. You need more icons? I don't. Everything that new icon does is already doable on your XP.

Windows Messenger. You actually USE that thing? I don't; never have; never will. I get more than enough CHAT on the Major Geeks Software Forum.

And my e-mail works just fine, thank you.

See what I mean?

Happy deciding!

 

Re: Re: Win Update question

That is what I am doing.

Thank you both for your input. It is much appreciated.

 

ps- I've made it a habit to avoid using WU drivers -I go to the manufacturer's website instead: There are many people (me, for instance) who have had bad experiences with WU suggested drivers -I'm sure there are lots of people who haven't had any trouble with them but enough have that I figure it can't hurt to suggest serching out the manufacturer's website and downloading from there.
Critical Updates: I've gotten them all and none have fubared my PC (theres a story at theinquirer.net about the latest patch messing up mouse scrolling but I havent heard anything similar about other Crit. Updates (and while MS should take care to not break things like scrolling -it'll be fixed soon enough, I'm sure).
Recommeded Updates: As mentioned before I just read about each update and decide for myself -I end up downloading 1/5th of what is in this section.
-522.

 

Good addition, 522.

I didn't mention drivers because Vonnie didn't, but the point about avoiding drivers offered at the WU site is a good one. If WU tells you you need a driver, get it from the manufacturer, not WU -- seems to be the best practice.