Should I trust win update?

[mystvearn]

Should I trust it when it gives me some driver updates? I checked with my mobo update-ther driver has not been updated yet. Should I dl the

Intel network software update released on May 27 2003
Intel(R) PRO/1000 T Desktop Adapte - this is what I have.
Anyone has this driver-and updated it?
Past experience-never trust driver updates from ms. I did that once on win98-it corrupted my modem-had to resintall the whole windows.

[raftero]

had bad experience with ms driver updates,i only update from mfg.

[Redo40]

I second that!

[RodneyMargis]

I wouldnt my friend downloaded a driver for his video card off win update and since then the card ahs run extremely hot so i would get your drivers straight from teh manufactor

[pam123]

Agree with all 3 above. And make sure you read through all security patches and OS updates before you okay them for downloading and installation.

[Aeryn]

I only trust updates that pertain to the Operating system itself, i.e. hotfixes, etc. If you see anything that pertains to hardware only download from the mfg. I have a bad expericane recently trying to update the drivers to my video card. Also, like pam123 said make sure that you read the descrpitions of the patches so you don't install something that you can't get rid of without someting short of a clean install of windows.

[Blakhart]

The drivers that are windows certified are tested by crazed M$ employees running dual processor systems, they try everything they can think of to lock up the systems they are given. Duals being more complex than most any single cpu system, are the best test bed for this kind of research. Whether it works out stable for you is another thing. Testing on a dual system is sure to bring out any bugs that are inherent. I use the drivers, but oftentimes, especialy with vid card drivers, the drivers from the mfg will be faster. Keep in mind that the M$ certified driver is for stability.

[RodneyMargis]

wow i didnt knwo thats how they tested them

[Heon2574]

one time a dl a driver from windows update for my via processor chipset. Leter that day i got the blue screen. Just stay away from the drivers section of windows update, install everthing else.

[RayH]

It's a toss. If you don't have any problems, why create them?

[mystvearn]

Originally posted by Blakhart The drivers that are windows certified are tested by crazed M$ employees running dual processor systems, they try everything they can think of to lock up the systems they are given. Duals being more complex than most any single cpu system, are the best test bed for this kind of research. Whether it works out stable for you is another thing. Testing on a dual system is sure to bring out any bugs that are inherent. I use the drivers, but oftentimes, especialy with vid card drivers, the drivers from the mfg will be faster. Keep in mind that the M$ certified driver is for stability.

So dual cpu's= like HT?
Then whats the point? Just for everything to get certified?
Before this I did dl the same driver from ms=for the same thing-I was offline for two days.

[Blakhart]

Well, HT is not really dual processing, but a step towards that. The goal being on-die multiprocessing, one chip, two or more cpu's. HT does come in handy for apps that do not need data acted on in any specific order. Funny that some os's show a HT enabled cpu as being dual literal cpus in dev man. Far as I know, only xp and server2003 has support for HT, 2k may have it in a sp.

The point is to try the driver out on a sensitive (read "dualie") box to see if it fails or not. That way if it passes, it is "less likely" to drop a single cpu box. This does not always work out, as you know... Plus the fact the certification is paid for by the driver writer, and it is not cheap. More cash for Bill.

I should also have mentioned that not all driver testing is done on duals, from what I understand a driver must pass on the duals to be certified.

In a dual cpu game server system, the only driver I added (and didn't need to) was the ASPI from Adaptec for the scsi drives. Since nt4, M$ has not added a ASPI, directing all to Adaptec for one, regardless of the scsi make. I want all the drivers to be certed, and they are in this case, even the vid driver is left alone by me as it is in a server, and the goal is stability and performance, but not at the price of stability. It has not failed save for a ac spike that ate the psu. Hardly a driver issue/M$'s fault. The os in this case is Server2003, and I recommend it.