Do I need Austopatcher

[confusednewbie]

i am very new to the internet, and installed Autopatcher a couple of months ago. I am on dial up connection so it took a lot of time, and before I install any more updates I really need to know if I need it. I I am very confused about what this program does, and dont know what if anything will happen if I uninstall it. I am running windows xp sp2. Please help me, but in plain english - I get very confused with technical jargon.

[Dysprosium]

Hi confusednewbie, you do not need Autopatcher, however it is quite useful. Autopatcher pretty much describes itself. Instead of (horror), downloading each individual patch itself and applying each individually and probably rebooting tens of times in the process, it has them all neatly packaged and will apply what patches can be applied together in one shot so you only reboot once or a few times (starting from a clean system).

The other option (actually viable) is to go to the microsoft update site, (just select <Tools> <Windows Update> from Internet Explorer menu), Express will give you all the critical patches, Custom will allow you to also select Recommended patches and Hardware (driver update) patches (usually best to avoid the last, it can mis-detect).

Why patch at all? Microsoft aint perfect (shock), so their OS's (like any other really) come with flaws - both security and stability, it is usually best to keep your system up to date.

Another I could mention is WSUS - but that only really applies to large organisations, or people with too much time on their hands and some spare hardware hanging around.

Why Autopatcher over Microsoft Update, for someone who probably isn't going to be performing multiple installs or re-installing your own system every few months, probably the only advantage is that you get some windows (and other) updates that aren't included on Microsoft Update (and you don't have to install Microsoft Genuine 'dis' Advantage); for someone like me who installs Windows A LOT, the advantages are many -- Thanks Autopatcher team! :-)

PS you can safely uninstall Autopatcher if you so desire, it will not undo any updates you have applied -- another great aspect of autopatcher is that it doesn't unnecessarily integrate with your system.