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What happens if you DON'T do Apple software updates?

zub3qin

zub3qin

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 10, 2007
1,315
4
I am a little bit peeved that there was a glitch with the OS X 10.4.10 update and with the superdrive update and even the itunes update (at least I read there were issues).

I switched to Mac 2 weeks ago and am quite happy with my Blackbook. I was used to seeing problems on XP with upgrades, but I thought this NEVER happened with Mac.

Anyway, I am now afraid to just do the software updates that Apple recommends because who knows what will happen. Is this upgrade glitch that screwed up people's computers a common problem, or is this a once ever type of thing?

Also, what if I never did the upgrade. If and when a 10.4.12 came out, do you have to do all the upgrades prior to, or could you jump from say a 10.4.10 to 10.4.12 without doing the step in the middle?

Do people ever NOT do the recommended software upgrades? Anyone not doing Superdrive or iTunes upgrades?

Thanks!
 
Make sure you do not have any other programs running when the updates are downloaded and applied. You should be fine. I have a Macbook since September last year and have applied every updates released by Apple on the day it was released - never had any problems.

And if you are that paranoid, just de-select the updates that you think might cause problems.
 
I have always done the software updates and haven't experienced any ill effects so far *knocks on wood* I think what you're seeing here are isolated incidence's which don't really represent the majority of people upgrading. Its just that this is also sort of a support forum so people with problems tend to post more than those without.

To answer your question, yes you can jump straight away but I think with every revision some people will experience problems while the vast majority will not. However the saying still goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" :D
 
Some people wile skip a version of the OS and download the combo update for the following version, but I think most people do since they usually do not cause more bugs than they fix.
 
What happens if you don't? Simple - you miss out on bug fixes and new features - It seems extremely rare that updates cause problems, and in the few that do (audio popping in 10.4.10 - i never had it myself but heard a bit about it) they fix it fairly quickly.
 
Steve Jobs drops out of the sky and smites you with a massive iPhone.


:p

No really, if you don't do the updates, nothing happens. If you're worried, don't do them. You just miss out on new stuff they fix or add, or maybe on problems. I usually wait about a week and read the forums to make sure it won't make my computer go all wonky.
 
I always say I am going to wait a week after every update is finished to download it. That way I can see if there are any issue or problems with them then decide whether I want to risk it. But in reality, I see an update, get excited and immediately launch Software update and install anything new (that's needed).

This has never caused me any problems. The updates always install without any problems and my system always runs great afterwards.
 
Updates are totally upto you and there are still a lot of people who run 10.3 or earlier even.

Their systems still run, and I would imagine the main downside is that some newer software / hardware may not work due to an "old OS" running. Then of course there are certain security issues that wont have been fixed, perhaps system speed or stability may not have been improved etc.
 
In four years of updates I have never had an update introduce system problems. I have had a couple of minor issues where an update has kibbled a third party program but in those cases the developers usually have had a fix out quickly.

Don't get too twisted up examining these forums for every single potential problem, you'll never get anything done.

Sopranino
 
yes you can jump from 10.4.10 to 10.4.12 if they did that.

I would just install whenever there's an update though, I've only ever had one problem caused by an update, and that was the whole 10.4.10 sound issue, which was fixed by Apple a few days later.
 
You should never skip the security updates.

What confuses me is that I never know if an OS subpoint update includes all previous security updates.
 
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