Windows Update

**CessnaFlyer** · 09-11-2009, 11:07 AM

well in my expiernce with updates is. after i have many hous upon hours trying to get my flightsim looking the way i want it. i would take these updates then i would have very slow preformance from my pc. the the dreaded crash altogether. i do infact have the sp3 came with the computer when i bought it. and i have a anti-virus that if i go to a bad website will post a message to me saying this is a bad website ect. abort connection.

so theres no worries there. but i think it has more to do with the updates. a family member of mine suggested it was the flightsim or the add-ons for it. but like i say i think it's more microsofts updates then the flightsim.

**bberson** · 09-11-2009, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by CessnaFlyer

well in my expiernce with updates is. after i have many hous upon hours trying to get my flightsim looking the way i want it. i would take these updates then i would have very slow preformance from my pc. the the dreaded crash altogether. i do infact have the sp3 came with the computer when i bought it. and i have a anti-virus that if i go to a bad website will post a message to me saying this is a bad website ect. abort connection.

so theres no worries there. but i think it has more to do with the updates. a family member of mine suggested it was the flightsim or the add-ons for it. but like i say i think it's more microsofts updates then the flightsim.

I hope you realize that your anti-virus software may not keep you as safe as you may think. It is not infallible. When a new virus makes an appearance it takes the anti-virus software vendors anywhere from a day to several months to find out about it, analyze it, and incorporate a solution into their software updates. Then your software typically only updates itself once a day so as much as another day goes by before the new solution is downloaded to your PC. Even in the best scenarios you are vulnerable to new viruses for one to two days. And new viruses come out so frequently it sickens me.

Do as you wish - I just want to make sure your decisions are educated decisions.

I make nice money getting rid of malware for folks whose decisions were not as well researched as they could have been... :-)

**CessnaFlyer** · 09-11-2009, 03:15 PM

ohok. yeah mine updates every hour on the hour. but as far as the updates go. maybe i should research them more huh?

**bberson** · 09-11-2009, 03:38 PM

Hourly updates are great, but yeah, the vendors still have to do their thing to make the update available (and do it without breaking anything - haha), and they still have to find out about an outbreak in the first place.

**CessnaFlyer** · 09-11-2009, 03:42 PM

yes thats true. but like the old saying goes if it ain't broke don't fixit. well i go by that to. my computers not broke so it don't need microsoft right now. maybe in the future i'll download it maybe.

***loki*** · 09-11-2009, 04:13 PM

The problem is it is often broke, just not in an obvious way. Don't know about you, but I would consider a system with a security hole broken.

One good example of why it is important to keep up with at least the security updates was the Conficker virus earlier this year. Microsoft had released a patch to fix the hole it used to install itself last October, but people were still being infected months later because they hadn't installed the patch. As the virus would also infect USB memory sticks, keeping the computer off the internet wouldn't necessarily protect you either.

This is also why Microsoft pushes automatic updates so hard. People get a virus and blame Microsoft for an insecure OS. On the other hand Microsoft tries to put out patches to fix the problem and people don't install them because they may cause a problem. Microsoft is really caught between a rock a hard place.

Yes, there is a chance that an Update from Microsoft could cause a problem, but for the vast majority of us, they won't. And if you use something like Acronis True Image, you can make a complete backup of your system, install the update and revert back if need be. A much better choice than leaving your system exposed. The only updates from Windows Update I have ever had problems with were the driver updates. And these have more to do with the hardware company, not Microsoft.

**CessnaFlyer** · 09-11-2009, 04:18 PM

oh ok so the security updates are not the problem? it would be me installing drivers ontop of drivers that are working now?

***loki*** · 09-11-2009, 04:24 PM

Most likely. Any of the updates can cause problems in theory, but the driver updates would the ones most likely to affect the system in general, and a program like FSX. I always ignore the driver updates and download the drivers directly from the hardware company's site directly if needed.

**CessnaFlyer** · 09-11-2009, 04:27 PM

ohok. thank you for you help in helping me to better understand.

**angels355** · 09-11-2009, 04:30 PM

Originally Posted by loki

The only updates from Windows Update I have ever had problems with were the driver updates. And these have more to do with the hardware company, not Microsoft.

I never add high performance/elaborate drivers from manufacturer's websites until I install the Microsoft default drivers first from Win Update, otherwise if you do the opposite often the default drivers will mess up the high performance/elaborate drivers.

Lost a lot of sleep this week, took 3.5 days to install and update xp plus sp3 (Edit: using dialup). That WGA is a big alarming stop sign in the process, I guess it's necessary but it's not very subtle w/ xp. It seems like w/ Vista and Windows 7 that at least they are trying to more subtle and friendly.

Vista and Win 7 are too much for a Pentium 4 to handle if you want to run flight simulators in my opinion. If not however then Speech Recognition (in Vista and Win 7) is great. Not using it now though, too tired and sleepy, only got a couple hours of sleep last night, had to complete my tasks w/ dialup which is slower than glacial drift!

Edit no. 2: If however you have a really hot computer (Intel i7 processor and gtx 275 or better video card) vista and even better win 7 can't be beat.