Talk Back: As Bad As Spyware

[dang]

Checkout our latest Talk Back: As Bad As Spyware (http://news.designtechnica.com/talkback41.html)

[Ioman]

I am surprised no one has commented on this, especially ECA And Technogeek.

[senoryoshio]

They're too busy thrashing at each other in the 'ECA types funny' thread.

[Carch]

While I agree in spirit with the sentiment of this article, it's going a bit far to suggest that all auto-update options should be turned off. One of the most common problems with PC stability is keeping drivers up to date. It's not necessarily the case that update checkers just sit there consuming resources all the time; some only run at boot, or at scheduled times. Even ones that don't are only consuming virtual memory, not real memory, so their impact on system resources is negligible. I think that companies that provide auto-update features for their drivers are doing a good service for users and should be praised.

[techfreak]

While I agree in spirit with the sentiment of this article, it's going a bit far to suggest that all auto-update options should be turned off. One of the most common problems with PC stability is keeping drivers up to date. It's not necessarily the case that update checkers just sit there consuming resources all the time; some only run at boot, or at scheduled times. Even ones that don't are only consuming virtual memory, not real memory, so their impact on system resources is negligible. I think that companies that provide auto-update features for their drivers are doing a good service for users and should be praised.

I disagree with this statement. I think that auto-updates are a terrible thing because they access the persons computer and often without their permission.

Updating drivers is one thing and a good thing, but let me download them on my own, don't do it for me automatically.

I don't even leave my Antivirus autoupdate on. These slow down your computer a lot and can certainly add to problems.

[ECA]

Ok,
Im LATE....so what.

Agreed...
Love all the FREE programs EQUAL to $200-$1000 on your system, only to find out is TRIAL WARE, Shareware, or FREE ANYWAY...

AUTO update on a 56k modem... SUCK...
Background startup, on a all ready SLOW machine....SUCK
Took 1 system 3 mnutes to boot with a 2.4 ghz system...Cleaned it ALL up in 6 hours... Killed excess progs, stopped un-needed startups, killed 80 bots..Takes 30 sec now. everything was Loading then WAITING for net access.. Is it there yet? Is it there yet? Is it there yet? Is it there yet?
For those NOT in the know, this takes TIME from your processor. And if ya got 56k(slowest hardware in system) it also has to wait for the Modem to say 'NO'.

Prog asks "Is it there yet?", goes to CPU, CPU asks modem, MODEM answer CPU, CPU answers prog...
thats 1 prog, add 8 more to it.. be easier just to Ping the IRQ, but they dont.