I'm quite sure you can set your update preferences so that critical updates download and install automatically. If your machine is on and you're not sitting in front of it, the only thing you should see when you come back is "Updates were installed," sometimes after you log back on if a reboot was needed. I don't have time to "research" them all, and the critical updates generally are something you need to have installed.

You can choose several varieties of other settings for optional updates. Normally (with the most common settings?) the optional ones don't download until you check the box(es) to say you want them. It can be difficult sometimes to tell whether an optional one has been downloaded and is ready to install, or whether it still remains to be downloaded when you check it in the list of what to install, but the notices may differ depending on what OS you're using and what other programs you have installed.

The typical notice that I get is:

There are (x) critical updates ready to be installed.
There are (y) important updates ready to be installed.

If I click on either the critical updates line, or the other one, a list of the individual updates is displayed, and clicking on one of them gets a "generic" description, usually with an additional link to detailed information about the update.

For most patches, there usually is a check box on one or the other of the "information" displays where you can check "Don't show me this update again," and checking there will avoid having it come back with every subsequent notice, if you don't install it.

If you change your mind later, you can click "Microsoft Update" on your Start menu, and there should be a button at the front page to "show hidden updates" that will reveal all the ones you declined to install and told them not to show again, if they're still available, along with (possibly) some optionals that were never part of an update distribution.

Although Microsoft doesn't support an OEM OS (without a fee for personal advice) they do provide support for patches, although they make it difficult by requiring your credit card to log in to where they can waive the charge if your call is about a patch.

If a patch, especially one marked critical or important, fails to install, Microsoft frequently will have an article about how to fix it or at least an explanation of why it happened. You should take a look at microsoft.com first to see if they've solved the problem before "wandering around the social network worlds."

Unfortunately, a "simple search" at microsoft.com generally sends you to the "microsoft social solutions" websites, where SPGWKs mixed with total idiots offer all kinds of "opinions" that are seldom useful.

If you use the "Advanced Search" on the microsoft.com site, and click "Search Microsoft.com" it will "deselect" the default "wander around among the idiots" selection, and useful solutions - if they've posted one - will come up close enough to the top of the list to be found. (Preference - IMO - should be given to articles that show a "technet" source, if you see one in the list.)

I keep a link in my "Favorites/Contacts" going directly to Microsoft Advanced Search, and click "Search Microsoft.com" just by reflex when it opens. (Opening to show the "advanced" settings sometimes takes a few seconds.)

John