dell question

[pizzakid13]

i have a refurb dell that is 4 days old. it has a program that runs call dell support alerts. it runs in the background and downloads updates and stuff i guess. how important is this?

[Renzatic Gear]

i have a refurb dell that is 4 days old. it has a program that runs call dell support alerts. it runs in the background and downloads updates and stuff i guess. how important is this?

Not important at all. If you wanna get rid of it go right ahead, you can get all the stuff it downloads yourself off of windows updates and whatnot.

[pizzakid13]

i tell ya though, it seems easier for me because the dell updates goes and gets what it needs. i have never had any luck with windows update. it is waaaaaay to technical. do they think that everybody is a friggin guru? i cant tell what the hell those patches and fixes etc are for.

[Archmage1]

Two points, pizza kid.

First, I don't know much about PCs but what I do know is from messing around the last three years. I think you should definitely start with places like Windows Update and drivers, etc.

However, if you still disagree. Close down the Dell Update program and run it only when you dont need all your resources for games. A program like that will work just as well running an hour a week as it will running all the time.

[E.T.]

<div class=\"smallfont\">i have a refurb dell that is 4 days old. it has a program that runs call dell support alerts. it runs in the background and downloads updates and stuff i guess. how important is this?</div>

I had similar program w/old Gateway system, one that was always running [for different purposes] called "Go Back"...resource hog.
I shut it off till one day I realized it could be useful.
Choices, choices...

[DBS]

You can manually run the program to update your computer. There are not updates daily and anything running in the background all the time is eating resources. Go-Back is a roxio product that is even better then system restore as if you ever delete, screw up a program you can go back to an earlier state and ta-da your problem is fixed. It does use alot of hd space though as it keeps a compressed copy of everything on your pc. Although with it you can even delete windows and goback to before you did this ...that was one of its selling points. It now comes with Norton's system works.

[E.T.]

<div class=\"smallfont\">You can manually run the program to update your computer. There are not updates daily and anything running in the background all the time is eating resources. Go-Back is a roxio product that is even better then system restore as if you ever delete, screw up a program you can go back to an earlier state and ta-da your problem is fixed. It does use alot of hd space though as it keeps a compressed copy of everything on your pc. Although with it you can even delete windows and goback to before you did this ...that was one of its selling points. It now comes with Norton's system works.</div>

Xp's "System Restore" just saved me a bit of time last night regarding this subject.
I had my 18 mo old sitting on my lap in front of PC I was yaking away on the phone, & she was banging away on my keyboard.
She deleted half my desktop icons[My Docs, shortcuts etc].
I could have manually restored, but w/System Restore it was done in a few moments.
I thought Id never find it useful ;)

[T3KT0N]

I've had Dells since a long time with minimal trouble regardless of my initial ignorant tinkering(now I do terminal ignorant tinkering!!).
Dell's updates are in sync with MS or general manufacturer's hardware updates ,but because Dell uses proprietary motherboards,and software they want to make sure there are no conflicts .

But "not"updating ,will NOT harm your PC,especially if occasionally you visit the MS site and update things selectively.

Updates and upgrades should be done manually and on a selective basis,because the "updater" proggie is a TSR(always lurking underneath slowing things while it checks)and because some of these updates ,may hamper your PC's performance,and on rare occasions like the first XP service pack really bog down your PC,because it was not tested extensively.

Dell is good,in customer help,yet,little by little it is advisable that you "fly" on your own, since eventually nobody but you, will really know your system.

If things get hairy, you can always call Dell and they'll walk you through to any solution.
The "System Restore" is a good asset since it reverts your Registry to a prior working order.
XP is a pretty robust and stable system so do not worry unduly.
AND there are people/gamers(weird kinda breed) on this site or similar ones that can help too or steer you to the right direction.