if those computers are not used in an internet connected environment you are fine with a service pack less installation (= original win xp) or even windows 98
no need for security measures as well thus no worries with permissions or malfunctioning software due to the user not being an administrator
just joking offcourse
if the computers are used for surfing the internet or receiving mails with outlook or outlook express or any other html aware mail client then up2date is the only way to go
lately there are so many exploits for recent patches that running an unpatched or a not entirely up2date system is a ticking bom in your network
pro is that you have no need for bandwidth or patch management software and no need for testing applications to see if they still work after a patch cycle
it is not so difficult to keep windows computers up2date with the use of wsus so why would you choose not to?
you can also download the iso with the most recent patches if you do not have a decent internet connection or a server in the network and go around patching all pc’s manually
you can built custom windows media with Ryan VM or nLite so that a newly installed computer is already up2date on installation
make a decision based on what gives you the most work, keeping everything up2date or clean up after an exploit wrecks the network.
I keep everything up2date myself and never had any troubles with it but I do look into the details of the patches to see if I can expect troubles with the applications used on the systems I manage
grtz
chris720 — Windows — Reply

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Auto. updates in WIN XP

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