Last week I let MS (and Adobe) do some updates on my screw around laptop and it caused some weirdness. I've been keeping my DAW rig up to date but I'm seeing some people complaining about weird X1 issues and am hesitant to allow this last round to install in case that's the problem. My system is currently running fine so I obviously don't want to screw it up. Any issues to report? General thoughts?

I always keep an image pre the latest Windows updates so if there are issues I can rollback.

I've got the latest updates and so far no issues to report.  All my Audio apps are working fine.  I use Sonar 8.5.3 not X1 though.

Is there a specific issue you are worried about?

Thanks, Jon. I've just noticed a spike in complaints about weird problems on the X1 sub forum and as I said I noticed some whacked out behavior on my laptop after MS hijacked my lappy for about 20 minutes. It seems to have sorted itself out somehow (I THINK it may have been the Adobe Flash update that did it but I am not sure). Sadly I'm not quite set up (or even knowledgeable enough) to make proper image backups at this point. In fact I was just discussing this with a tech friend of mine. Essentially I'm still in the process of testing everything out and I intend to completely blow up the system and start from scratch after I feel all the hardware is doing what it should. I'd be reinstalling everything. What I was mentioning to them was that I wanted to create a partition on my E drive for backup (I only have two drives at the moment) until I did that and they said that if I was going to set up a back up partition to do it when I blew up the system. So NOW I just want to wait until I can get a third drive dedicated to back up before I go through the whole process but I still want to keep using the system as is while I learn X1. Sorry... that's probably a little crazy sounding but I am on a very limited budget, I'm still really new to computer tech stuff (and DAW stuff) and I am neck deep in other real world mayhem so I don't really have the time to focus on all this. I just don't want my currently working system to lemon out on me because Bill Gates forgot to carry the two... again. :-p

Firstly they say your main audio computer should not be on the net and that is always good advice. I have also seen it said that you should turn Automatic Updates Off. It is yet another task running in the background that you don't need.

If you do feel like updating your OS you should do the research and really find out what the update is actually for and in most cases it will have nothing to do with audio and will give you no benefits. It will often be for internet security issues because as we know Microsoft make the worst OS for internet security and will continue to do so I am sure.

I have had a computer for years not being (OS) updated and it has never failed at doing audio production which is what I do.

I let a few through and noticed a definite slowdown in general.  After a system restore I cut off automatic updates and plan to keep it that way. My last system I kept off line except to authorize or update programs and never had a problem. 

@Jeff... I hear ya, man. I want to lock the system down after I get it running exactly how I want and that's what I did with my old rig but I'm still acquiring stuff and it is a lot easier just yanking downloads directly off the net (from trusted sites of course) with the system. I was kind of hoping Windows wouldn't pull this crap in the interim but just my luck... ugh. I hope you and your puppy are well.

@jimmyrage... okay, that seems like some confirmation. I guess the question now is WHICH of the last round of updates is causing problems? I have auto updates turned off (I'm at least that smart) but it was a BIG update (17 I think) and I'm not sure what to leave out. This is gonna be a REAL pain when reconfigure reinstall everything. Maybe I'd better call tech when I get to that point. FRIGGEN' MS!!!

What's an update? 

My DAW is off line and has not had an update since I installed the OS on it and the software. Nothing on that machine updates. 

Believe it or not..... it still works like the day I built it.....3 years ago now..... 

I keep all automatic updates off and, whenever I feel like it, I may check to see what updates are ready but I always make the actual choice myself.  I heard it described to me like this:  99% of the updates are there to plug a security leak which, was obviously exploited, and which now your anti-virus probably catches anyway so most of those are completely unneeded.  When a major update, like a new service pack, comes out, I do a lot of research and I'm definitely NOT one of the first wave to try it out.

That's actually pretty helpful, craig. I guess the reason I'm trying to keep it up to date is for security because like I said I want to be able to snag programs I need without dorking around with USB keys and CD between computers. I also need to blow up this laptop too because it's getting a little stupid but I have to back up like a million things first. I guess I just gotta develop better habits in regards to this stuff. Blurgh... stupid computers.