That is the question. It is often asked about everything from Windows Updates to iPhone firmware updates.

Most large corporations don’t use Windows Update on individual machines, instead they make use of automated patch management, sometimes using a software tools like Software Update Services (SUS). This way updates are applied to test machines before being rolled out to a corporations Windows Desktops. The book “Curing The Patch Management Headache” covers this.

What about home users? If you are fortunate enough to have more than one machine, you can apply Windows updates to the least important machine first, and then to the other machine(s) after a few days. Of course this is assuming you are not running a desktop with Windows XP and a notebook with Windows Vista. The Windows version needs to be the same to do this, and in some case the processor – Windows XP Service Pack 3 initially had a bug that only affected machines with AMD processors. Sometimes though, if the patch is a critical security patch, it is better to apply it rather than wait.

Naturally that brings me to iPhone firmware updates and iTunes updates. To update an iPhone to version 2.1, version 8 of iTunes is required. The first iTunes version 8 for Windows caused machines running Windows Vista to crash. Apple had a fixed version available quite quickly. As for the iPhone firmware update, it is supposedly to fix a lot of problems. User feedback is mixed, so I think I may wait for a while…

Yesterday I finally bit the bullet and updated Windows XP to Service Pack 3 on one of my machines. I’m still trying to find out what extra features it may have added apart from security patches and bugfixes. Microsoft just seems to lead you in circles on their website. I did make sure the machine I updated had a Pentium processor, as I had heard that Windows XP SP3 caused problems on machines with AMD processors. Of course Microsoft may have fixed that by now, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

Firefox 3 is a different story. After only using the portable edition for several weeks, I finally installed Firefox 3 onto all but one machine, which is actually the machine I’m writing this particular blog entry on. I’m having to jump through a few well-documented hoops to have Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 running on the same machine (but obviously not at the same time). The main reason is because a large number of my favorite Firefox 2 add-ons have not yet been upgraded for Firefox 3. Eventually I guess I may have to do without Tab Mix Plus.

When you buy a new computer, one question that will come up is whether you should put out the extra bucks to buy the extended warranty.

I have no doubt we’ll be getting a call from Dell shortly pushing its extended warranty for the new notebook computer that will be soon be joining our household.

Today’s Boston Globe actually addresses the question, with some decent advice.

As the article points out, Consumer Reports advises not to bother, since your new system will probably be covered for some period (in our case, a year). In that time, presuming you’re using the computer, if something’s bound to go wrong as a result of a faulty part or connection, it will.

The fact is that most warranties don’t cover the stuff that can really happen to your machine in those extended years of use: Your new kitten runs into the power cord, pulling the notebook off your desk; or your first-grader tries to print a coloring page from The Wiggles website while you’re off washing your hair and spills his breakfast juice on the keyboard. Trust me, that stuff isn’t covered by an extended warranty.

Still determined to get that extra protection? Then ask these questions, suggests the Globe:

“Can it be returned to the store, or will it be shipped to a third party? Who pays for the shipping? What is the ‘lemon clause’ — meaning how many times will they try to repair the computer before they give up and replace the device?”

Whatever you do, don’t buy the warranty the moment you’re standing in the checkout counter holding your new purchase. That gives you no time at all to read the fine print.

So when Dell calls this household for that after-market upgrade, we’ll say, “No thanks.” Plus, we’ll make sure that juice is served in a sippy cup.

Where do you stand on the subject?

If you’re using Microsoft Office 2007 on a personal computer, you’ll want to download a copy of the company’s first service pack, which came out a week ago. To find it, go to www.microsoft.com/office and look for the service pack headline link. (If your machine is a business PC, wait until your corporate IT department has issued the A-OK on installation.)

The service pack is free and contains 400 bug fixes, security fixes, stability improvements and performance enhancements. Some of the new stuff has been issued as separate updates, but this 219-megabyte download consolidates those and adds more. You’ll find fixes for Access, Excel, InfoPath, the overall Office application, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project and Project Server, Publisher, SharePoint Designer, Visio and Word.

Among the interesting problems the service pack addresses:

— When you try to use Word 2007 to open a document that uses a ZIP format, Word 2007 does not consider the file format converter for the ZIP format. When this problem occurs, the File Conversion dialog box does not appear. Instead, you receive an error message that resembles the following: The Office Open XML file cannot be opened because there a problems with the contents.

— You open a PowerPoint Show (.pps) file in full-screen view two times. Then, you close the file. In this situation, PowerPoint 2007 stops responding.

— A user’s computer may hang if the user runs Outlook 2007 on Windows Vista and connects over a slow connection.

— When you try to use arrow keys to move the cursor in a text box in Excel 2007, the cursor moves in the opposite direction.

As somebody who has difficulty with the smallest of binary problems (one that comes to mind: loading toilet paper in the right direction), I always marvel at the magic performed by developers — and the rich variety of problems they introduce into software with their coding skills.