Windows 7 Updates. Which to allow?

[Vizzy]

I recently bought a new HP pavilion p6680t with core i5 quad and 6 gb ram....

I notice that with win7 there are three catagories of updates ...Important (obvious) Recommended (?) and Optional ...

Obviously the the Imporant updates are critical for good functionality of windows, but what about the recommended updates. How do I determine if I really need them ?...I would assume I would be safe to ignore any of the optional updates as long as I don't use any of the frills that windows offers like Win Live Essnetials or such...

As everyone knows most of the times when you ask for more details on the updates from windows the explanation is cryptic at best.


Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[SLCraig]

I run pretty much everything but drivers and have never had a problem doing this.

Sometimes I even run the drivers as long as its only something like a network card etc.

 

[SuperDave456]

Important and recommended can be security updates for either the OS or other Microsoft software.

The Optional can be all kinds of stuff. I know that there are language options for other websites and currency options for functional portions of those websites. I have been on Japanese websites looking at traditional armor and swords where I had to download the optional drivers before the graphics would work.
Been a long time since I did that, and it was pre-windows 7, so I may be full of it on that one.

 

[tmorris1]

You are better off to do them all unless you really know what you are doing with drivers and other details of the OS.

 

[greenaccord02]

Better to do everything. Why wouldn't you? Live essentials is the only one I don't install.