Windows Updates Advice needed

Muppet81

Since I set up my new laptop 1 week ago, I have been inundatd with Windows updates. I am not surprised at this as Windows 7 may have been on it for some time and missing updates until I bought it and set it up.

I know that some updates are crucial and want to keep my laptop secure BUT sick of it being taken over when I am in the middle of doing something.

have now gone into settings and asked that I be informed before downloading and installing of updates.

The problem is that I am a novice and do not know which I should allow through.

The one that has brought this to a head is a Windows Live Essentials (imprortant) update which when i googled it, seems to have caused lots of problems for people. Loss of e-mails and contacts and no restore point to go back to.

This is now sitting there as an update waiting to install but I don't want to install it. How do I get shut of it so I don't inadvertantly install it with others one day?

Is there an idiots guide to managing Windows updates? Are there certain types that I should always allow? I would have said all that are classed as Important but the Windows Live essentials one is Important so that does not seem like the best policy to adopt.

help!

GunJack

Live essentials is anything but essential. If you right-click on that update, you can choose to hide it

you've also done the right thing in setting updates to notify you they are available without automatically downloading and installing them for you.

Muppet81

Windows 7 SP1 loaded yesterday and hopefully that encompasses much that is needed.

Does anyone know of an idiots guide or do I need to googel each one that appears and see what the feedback from people is?

Can see that being all I ever do from the numbeer coming in every day at the moment.

free4440273

it's one of the reasons I always install updates at MY discretion. cause more problems than they purport to solve lol.

Muppet81

But how do you actually know which you need and which you can ignore if you are a technical numpty like me

Having googled 3 which arre sitting waiting now, it seems they have caused issues for some people but does this automatically mean I should ignore them.
KB 2518869 KB 2539635 KB 257277

Need to try to get an understanding of what is what but how?

GunJack

Muppet81 wrote: »

But how do you actually know which you need and which you can ignore if you are a technical numpty like me

Having googled 3 which arre sitting waiting now, it seems they have caused issues for some people but does this automatically mean I should ignore them.
KB 2518869 KB 2539635 KB 257277

Need to try to get an understanding of what is what but how?

if you search ms's knowledgebase, it'll tell you what they are for, search by the kb number...

http://support.microsoft.com/search/

free4440273

Muppet81 wrote: »

But how do you actually know which you need and which you can ignore if you are a technical numpty like me

Having googled 3 which arre sitting waiting now, it seems they have caused issues for some people but does this automatically mean I should ignore them.
KB 2518869 KB 2539635 KB 257277

Need to try to get an understanding of what is what but how?

there is nothing -- as far as i know ---- conclusive in that direction. it would be a risk, yes, but it's one i am willing to take. i would not advise novices to disable automatic updates --- but i choose to do so on ALL my machines.

GunJack

free4440273 wrote: »

i would not advise novices to disable automatic updates --- but i choose to do so on ALL my machines.

I do advise against auto-updates, mainly because I've had to re-build soo many vista systems which have been powered-off whilst in the middle of doing auto-updates and it has corrupted the OS, all while the users didn't know/realise it was happening :mad:

Muppet81

GunJack wrote: »

I do advise against auto-updates, mainly because I've had to re-build soo many vista systems which have been powered-off whilst in the middle of doing auto-updates and it has corrupted the OS, all while the users didn't know/realise it was happening :mad:

That alone seems justification enough.

Have tried reading what ms say about each of the downloads but these do not really tell me whether I could live without them or NEEEEEED them. Also, below are the comments of p***** off users who have encountered problems since allowing the update. if I look at these I will never want to allow any of them!

Looks like I might just have to reactivate auto update and leave ms to do what it likes with my laptop and hope for the best. At least is I say ask befor downloading/installing, I can control when being done and not power down midway.

free4440273

Muppet81 wrote: »

That alone seems justification enough.

Have tried reading what ms say about each of the downloads but these do not really tell me whether I could live without them or NEEEEEED them. Also, below are the comments of p***** off users who have encountered problems since allowing the update. if I look at these I will never want to allow any of them!

Looks like I might just have to reactivate auto update and leave ms to do what it likes with my laptop and hope for the best. At least is I say ask befor downloading/installing, I can control when being done and not power down midway.

indeed. that would be the official MS response : update everything regardless ! important and recommended updates are void of any meaning when things go askew -- the MS response will just be : download another set of updates lol !

i suppose u could play around with options settings : i mean, some of these could be unticked -- even for novices .

bod1467

Who powers off their PC without shutting it down via Windows? It has NEVER been recommended to power off a PC via the power button. Whenever I have updates being applied (Windows 7, but I'm sure Vista was the same) then there is a message saying to not power off until the updates have been applied. (And an according message at the next power On).