Automatic Updates - End of the Story?

Sorry, it's been some time since I posted last. In one sense that's because there didn't seem much left to say on the Automatic Update thing; I turned them off and my PC stopped freezing, period.

Acquaintances I've given the same advice to have all had the same 100% success. But the reason for all this remains difficult to understand. When I do a manual update, Microsoft search my computer for less than 10 minutes before offering me a full list of priority and other updates. And my PC doesn't freeze up while it's doing it. With Automatic Updates however the search takes far longer and the computer often freezes solid. So why? It doesn't happen with new computers, and it never used to happen to older ones either. Could Microsoft be subtly encouraging us to trade our old machines in?

I've also dealt with my antivirus software, which I had identified as a potential culprit but wasn't. I originally bought Norton Systemworks Premier 2005, and my subscription for the antivirus finally expired a couple of months ago. I briefly looked at renewing, but when I saw the fee they wanted, considerably more than I'd need to pay to buy their antivirus new from say Amazon, I baulked. And their UK fees are nearly twice those charged for US customers! So I've downloaded the free Antivirus software from Grisoft; it's had fantastic write-ups in the computing press and works well. No doubt everyone else has known about it for ages, but I didn't.

I suspect that Norton and McAfee make the bulk of their profits on the back of high subscription renewal fees, relying on subscriber inertia. And I also wonder if half those messages they pop up on your screen are primarily intended to encourage you to think how effective their product is. I must say though that a lot of the other software in my Systemworks 2005 package is really useful. I make regular use of Ghost, WinDoctor, CleanSweep, and WipeInfo. But they're all subscription-free, and the builds are old enough not to overstress an older PC like mine.