Help for a new user?

[Mr.whiskers]

Hey guys,

So I've been searching around these forums for a while, and finally pulled the trigger and got myself a surface pro 2. Needless to say it's been a bit of a whirlwind. The first time I tired to install the firmware and windows updates (right after I booted up the machine) half of them failed and caused a bunch of problems. So I eventually recycled the machine and started from scratch. Since then I haven't updated anything, and I have some questions that would greatly help me and possibly any other new users.

I've seen it posted around here that the surface pro 2 is far from perfect, and if nothing is severely wrong there is no need to update, so if everything is running ok for me (without any updates so far) is there any reason I should chance it and try the recommended update (its about 500-600mb)? And if I should update is there anything I can do to minimize the chance of botching it (like making sure I'm plugged in, fully charged...ect)?

The only major annoyance I have at the moment is the screen flickering when switching between apps (which from my understanding is not a hardware defect but actually a driver issue?) and I was wondering if this is the correct fix for it?
Post #11 http://www.surfaceforums.net/forum/microsoft-surface-pro-2/6435-sp2-screen-flicker-2.html

Lastly, what does it mean to update all of the Intel drivers? Is this the windows update that I'm avoiding, or something else entirely? And would doing this increase overall performance, gaming, and battery life?

I apologize in advance if any of these questions are redundant, I know I have come across one or two of them but I figured it might be helpful to have the answers all in one place.

Thanks for all of your help!

 

[clemgrad85]

Hey....new SP2 user as well....had my SP2 for 2 weeks. I suffer from the same hesitancy that you do....nervous to do much updating. However, I have decided to do the security updates and the Windows Defender definition updates. I have also done updates on a case by case basis, but will normally wait a few days to see if any issues come out in the Forums. I have not done the most recent Firmware update (2/11). I also had not done the 1/18 Firmware update, but now it is not listed as an option, so not sure if it disappears after awhile or if somehow it ended up being installed. It isn't listed on the history list for installs, so not sure what happened. I did NOT have the issues you had when I first did the updates, so I can understand you being even more hesitant. I don't think I addressed your issues, but just thought I'd comment about your hesitancy to do any update that comes along. Knock on wood, but my SP2 is working well and don't want to do something stupid since it is my main work computer.

 

[Mr.whiskers]

Yeah I know exactly what you mean. I really enjoy the device, and I'm very dependent on it at this point I would hate to do something to screw it up!