Driver Update Recommendations

[WizardOfBoz]

Apologize for cross-posting - I will try to delete same note in the Windows 10 subforum.

All,

I recently had an issue with the Windows 10 Fall Creator's Update, because I'd failed to keep my nVidia drivers (for the K2000M graphics) updated. My bad.

This led me to make sure that I had the latest System Update from Lenovo loaded. It indicates no critical updates, but three recommended ones:

1) Intel PRO/1000 LAN Adapter Software - 8.1/10[64]
2) ThinkPad HotKey Features Integration Package Setup - 10[64]
3) ThinkPad BIOS update US - 7/8/8.1 p42,64] /10[64]

Two optional updates are:
4) Lenovo Active Protection System - 10[64] and
5) Lenovo Power Management Driver - 10 [64]

I'm leery of modifying a system that works well with frivolous and perhaps unecessary upgrades. For example, I have an SSD, and the Active Protection system (as I understand it) is for protecting physical drives by parking the arm holding the read/write heads if you drop your laptop while its running. The upshot question is "any of these upgrades add significant function or security?". And my action will be tempered by the second question "Do any of these upgrades pose a significant risk to operation?"

BTW, my understanding once was that if the BIOS update IS one that I want to install, I'll have a more reliable update if I download the ISO image, put it onto a CD/ROM, and boot from that image to update. Is that approach still the most reliable way to update my BIOS?

Thanks!

Wiz

[Cigarguy]

If this was my machine I would update everything except for the Active Protection because of the SSD. If there's a HDD instead of a SSD that would be different. As for the BIOS update, I like to typically update to the latest just because I like to have the latest BIOS. Having said that, some believe that if it is working don't fix it until it is broken.

[RealBlackStuff]

This is a Windows 10 problem!
Moved there (again!).

[WizardOfBoz]

Thanks to the moderator for getting this in the right spot. I pretty much followed the advice above. Lenovo System Update prompted me for a critical hotfix, which I applied. Then I applied the following driver and bios updates:

1) Intel PRO/1000 LAN Adapter Software - 8.1/10[64]
2) ThinkPad HotKey Features Integration Package Setup - 10[64]
3) ThinkPad BIOS update US - 7/8/8.1 p42,64] /10[64]

Two optional updates are:
5) Lenovo Power Management Driver - 10 [64]

As per the advice above, I did not install

4) Lenovo Active Protection System - 10[64] and

as I have an SSD.

As a note, I also installed the latest conservative (OEM version) drivers from nVidia for the Quadro K1000M and K2000M graphics cards (I updated two w530s, one of each). The Fall Creator's Update of Win10 caused my machine to fail (it couldn't load any Office programs). The updated drivers work well with Win10 FCU.

With all the changes, everything runs great. Thanks for the help, folks. Wiz