How do I keep my system up to date?

[torlanglo]

Are there any best practices as to how to keep your Thinkpads up to date?

Which source do I rely upon, Lenovo's System Update or Vista Windows Update?

I'm confused as to how these two relate. Do they offer the same updates? If so, which one should I use to do the update?

For instance, right now on my machine both offer an Intel Update with slightly different wording:

Windows Update says "Intel - Networking - Intel(R) PRO/1000 PL Network Connection"

Lenovo System Update says "Intel(R) PRO/1000 PL Network Connection for Windows Vista Version: 9.6.31.1"

Likewise, see my prior post about Bluetooth software.

Finally, I'm not sure if Lenovo System Update is really offerering all updates that are available from the Lenovo/IBM web site. I have read on these forums that System Update relies upon an XML configuration (on the server) that hadn't been updated (this was a few weeks ago).

So, how do you guys do it?

Thanks,
Tor

[jdhurst]

I keep the two notions separate. For me, the IBM (Lenovo) driver and application updates work fine and I keep them up to date. I am in a minority in that I download the updates to a location I know and keep, and explode them manually into C:\Drivers\WinXPP (overwriting old driver explosions). Then I use Software Installer to install the lot. Works fine and provides zero problems.

Windows is the OS and has little to do with the above. I *never* allow Windows to update my drivers. I keep Automatic Updates running and it tells me when there are Windows updates to process, which I do.
... JD Hurst

[zverg]

Wait, you're actually seeing updates in the Lenovo System Update program? Last I checked was about a week ago and I was still getting nothing at all.

[torlanglo]

Yes, I do see updates there, but there's been a period of time where I haven't trusted it (does it show me ALL available updates?).

I recently noticed there was an update to System Update itself (I wasn't automatically "told" about that).

If you have problems with it I would uninstall, and get the latest version from the Lenovo site.

Tor.