downloading windows updates

[neo505]

I have heard some people say that downloading a windows update can slow down your pc considerably. Is this true? With the recent virus attack I wanted to learn more about windows update and if it is safe to use without slowing down my pc as a result. Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[BrettJRob]

I personally never use it and, for better or for worse, ignore most of the patches MS releases, but I sure needed it this time (I got infected with MSBlast). You can find the file for the patch at sites other than Windows Update. I find WU very annoying and inconvenient as it will often want you to download 30 different things, yet 5 of them have to be downloaded independently of one another when you click OK.

 

[kinetic_tw]

I reccommend that everyone keep up to date with Critical Updates from the windows update site. The other categories are mostly optional, and usually not neccesary to update unless you're running specific windows applications. These critical updates are infinitely more important to users who are not running any type of firewall/anti-virus program, which is a large portion of internet users.

To answer your inquiry, I personally have not experienced a slowdown on any of the machines I've worked on as a result of updating.

 

[Boilermaker]

neo505 might be thinking of when service pack 1 for xp was first released, and it was slowing some computers down. ms <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-013.asp" target="_new">relased a patch</A> for the problem (expand the technical details section for a description of what happened).

kinetic is right, installing the critical updates from windows update to keep things current is a good idea. a lot of the other stuff isnt absoultely necessary, they can be installed as needed.

 

[Toejam31]

There was one hotfix that caused certain systems to experience slow downs when launching applications and starting the computer, (Windows XP Hotfix (SP2) Q811493, released in April) ... but this hotfix has been replaced with a newer version that doesn't cause the problem.

Toey

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