Is it worth downloading patches for all the games you have

I have just formated my computer and was wandering if it is worth downloading all the patches for all the games I have.
Games I have are
Day Of Defeat, Raven Shield Medal of Honor, Unreall 2, Unreal Tournament 2003
Battlefield 1942, Mafia, Championship Manager 4. I know it is worth downloading patches for Championship Manager.

I would also like to know what programes I should install. I don't want Kazza or any other similar programes. I dont download anything other than trailers and film clips. I would like Real Player and Quicktime if anyone can tell me where I can download them I would be gratefull.

Just one more question when you download an updated file it will say save to computer or open. I always select open once it has downloaded is this the right option. Thank You for your help.

 

If you're watching movies, download Nimo Codec pack. Install only what you need (don't install all codecs)

Have you got ADSL?

I have found patched games run slightly faster (got about 10-20fps extra over updated Unreal Tournement)

Also download Direct 8 (not sure if DX9 is stable yet)
Latest soundcard, video, motherboard, AGP drivers (and other cards)
Windows SP updates & IE updates
Windows Media player update
Winamp

goto www.download.com

for Quicktime, Real Media etc

 

I have got Broadband 512k. I have got Direct x 9 installed it came with Raven Shield and also I downloaded an update for it from windows xp. I have installed all my drivers got windows media player 9 and the latest msn.
I dont chat much only to some firends and family for which i use MSN. I found having Kazza on the system can mess your system up well have it running a bit slower and can corrupt your files or interfere with other files.

When I had Kazza I did have divx to watch some clips. Would you recomend I download Divx again. I have a site which lets you watch the first 8 miniutes of the big box office films before they appear in Cinemas in Uk.

I have a lot of film trailer sites if anyone wants them. I was just wandering if it was worth downloading patches for the games I have mentioned.

PS I am a bit gutted bought 2500 Barton about 4 weeks ago for £105 for that price I can now buy the Athlon 2700. I have the ASUS A7N8X non deluxe motherboard whish I had bought the deluxe board because I wanted the Dolby Digital sound but that is a differnet issue

 

I would recommend you only patch your games if you need it or want the benefits it provides. Always read the patch notes.

Most online only games will require patching (Day of Defeat, Battlefield). The same goes for hardware drivers, only update your drivers if you need to, if you are happy with your system and it runs stable then leave it as it is

It is worth having DivX.

On your opening files question it doesn't really matter They need to be run anyway. Just remember to try and run patches/driver updates with nothing else loaded ie Internet Explorer. They may interfere or cause problems, not likely but there is a chance.

 

Thank you both for your help. My system seems to be running a lot better. I had so many programes I never use like winamp, Kazza there was a dvd programe where converts trailers to vcd so you could play them on dvd. A guy from work put it on my computer but again never used it.

I had so many programes that I never used and felt the computer was being slowed down by so many programes I just wanted to start a fresh. I was also having some problems playing games on line.

 

The only problem I am having is when I surf the net and look at pages it says Internet Explorer Script Error. Do you want to carry on running scripts on this page yes or no.
I dont know why I get that message. I click on yes and I can carry on reading the pages but is a bit anoying.

Can anyone give me any decent sites to download patches for games. I remember blueyonder had a good site for patches but I can not remember the web address for the games patches.

 

www.3dgamers.com

I get that Script error occasionally, but only on knackered sites.

 

I would only use a patch if something were wrong with the game. Some time the patches can cause problems of there own which have to be fixed with other patches.