Are You an Auto-Updater or Manual Updater?
Monday October 6, 2008
We all use Windows Update (or we all should) to keep our computers updated. But do you let Windows automatically download and install your updates or do you do it all manually yourself? There are pros and cons to both methods.
Auto-updating is certainly easy and you don't have to remember to do anything. The downside is that software is installed without your knowledge which can be a bit scary. Some updates have been known to cause problems so it's hard to troubleshoot an issue that might have been caused by something that you didn't even know was installed.
Manual updating is great because you're in complete control all the time. You can research updates and install just the ones you want. The downside is that you're human and unless you've formed a habit of checking for updates, you'll likely forget to check and may go longer than you might like being unprotected from the latest security threat.
How is your Windows installation configured for updating? Do you prefer Microsoft to "push" updates to you or would you rather "pull" them from their website yourself?
Auto-updating is certainly easy and you don't have to remember to do anything. The downside is that software is installed without your knowledge which can be a bit scary. Some updates have been known to cause problems so it's hard to troubleshoot an issue that might have been caused by something that you didn't even know was installed.
Manual updating is great because you're in complete control all the time. You can research updates and install just the ones you want. The downside is that you're human and unless you've formed a habit of checking for updates, you'll likely forget to check and may go longer than you might like being unprotected from the latest security threat.
How is your Windows installation configured for updating? Do you prefer Microsoft to "push" updates to you or would you rather "pull" them from their website yourself?
Comments
Only a lunatic would give microsoft ANY control. Always update manually and sparingly, if at all.
Manual Updates only. I probably err on the side of caution, but, like to check out all the updates on Google first to pick up any problems that might be reported - then I wait 10 days or so to give Microsoft a chance to fix any problems that might have accompanied the original release - and, finally, download only those updates that are relevant to our Network. Sounds time-consuming, but it’s worked well for us.