Are Updates Safe?

RobertFoster

Just wondering...you hear of stories of peoples computers fecking up because an update fixed one bug, but uncovered another. Are there any hard and fast rules for what and when you update?

ColmOT [MSFT]

Security updates are released on the second Tuesday of every month.

Generally they are safe to use. As a result of a few fu*k ups in the past, now all QFEs get stressed & thrashed for a good few weeks before they're released to ensure that they don't cross contaminate each other.

I would recommend to use them, otherwise your system is going to be vulnerable to malacious files from the Internet.

Sleipnir

The hard & fast rule would be; although there have been a few screw ups in the past with updates, as Colm points out, you're far better off applying them, then not.

You could wait a couple of days after the release in case any issues become apparent but there are risks to that also.

Ancient1

Robert, sorry, i dont want to hijack your thread, but i have to ask regarding updates -

I finally got around to installing the SP-1 for XP last night.
It took forever but i finally managed - didnt restart the PC until this evening and found that it took ages for my settings to load on start-up and get the pc going.

Is this normal?

It seems to be back to its normal self but i got a bit worried. The install is fairly straightforward so i dont know what (if anything) went wrong. What do you guys think?

ColmOT [MSFT]

The first reboot after any major system change, installing an SP in this case, is expected to be a little slower than usual.

Performance should return after the first reboot. There is a lot of stuff happening under the hood during the first startup after a SP installation.

Ancient1

Pheeeeew - what a relief. I thought i messed something up.

Cheers

RobertFoster

cheers for the replies. once I get BB I'll be able to get all the updates (I've about 40 critical ones lined up :eek: lol)

BigEejit

I usually give updates (and especially service packs) a miss for a week .... sites like theinquirer.net would gleefully put up a story about any problems.... the security sites would probably have something about potential problems as well.