I have a Dimension 3000 desktop about 3-4 yrs old and I just recently had Dell replace the hard-drive.  I'm wondering if on this one I should do the Windows Automatic Updates from Microsoft.  I never did them on my old hard drive and altho i didn't really have any problems, it's rather confusing not knowing if they're needed or not. It's also annoying when the "reminder icon" keeps popping up because I've got them turned off. I've heard w/service pack 1 that doing the updates sometimes harmed your computer but I've not heard any cons on the service pack 2.  What do you think? Any knowledge would be really appreciated.

 

Dimension 3000

Windows XP, Service pack 2 build 2600

766 MB

Mcafee Security Suite 2008