Reformat, Reinstall, and updates

[Paradoxdb3]

Last night, I reformatted the HD and installed everything all over...AGAIN!
It's actually quite a peaceful past time lately! I was just wondering
something. After I installed the Yahoo messenger for my wife, it
automatically installed the latest flash player for IE6, which is Adobe Flash
Player 9. I haven't yet patched the computer with the Microsoft updates. I
know from past experiences, that if I apply the critical service packs AFTER
I've installed Adobe Flash Player, I lose that flash player to Macromedia's
flash player 5.

My question is, do I really need the Microsoft critical updates for Windows
98, WMP9, DirectX9, and IE6? I'm behind a router/firewall. I understand
that IE6 may still be vulnerable, but isn't Windows 98 far enough out of the
spotlight to be considered safe from malware/hackers?

Oh, I have one last question...did I spell "vulnerable" correctly?

Thanks in advance! I appreciate any help as I don't own a dictionary! Oh,
and help with the technical questions is also appreciated! :-D

 

[Paradoxdb3]

Never mind. My wife just phoned me and asked why Facebook wasn't working
properly. I guess I do need the critical updates after all! If memory
serves me correctly, I needed both the updates and the latest flash player
for that crappy site to work correctly (although I don't know why...unless
Adobe Flash Player 9 doesn't function properly without the Microsoft updates?)

"Paradoxdb3" wrote:

> Last night, I reformatted the HD and installed everything all over...AGAIN!
> It's actually quite a peaceful past time lately! I was just wondering
> something. After I installed the Yahoo messenger for my wife, it
> automatically installed the latest flash player for IE6, which is Adobe Flash
> Player 9. I haven't yet patched the computer with the Microsoft updates. I
> know from past experiences, that if I apply the critical service packs AFTER
> I've installed Adobe Flash Player, I lose that flash player to Macromedia's
> flash player 5.
>
> My question is, do I really need the Microsoft critical updates for Windows
> 98, WMP9, DirectX9, and IE6? I'm behind a router/firewall. I understand
> that IE6 may still be vulnerable, but isn't Windows 98 far enough out of the
> spotlight to be considered safe from malware/hackers?
>
> Oh, I have one last question...did I spell "vulnerable" correctly?
>
> Thanks in advance! I appreciate any help as I don't own a dictionary! Oh,
> and help with the technical questions is also appreciated! :-D