Windows Vista, updates

[henell]

Gday all, new at this and trying to find my way around. Bit of a battle for an Aussie dinosaur. I have a fair idea how to drive this monster, but havent a clue as to what goes on under the case.
Here goes :-
Ihave a machine with a 2.8 dpcu processor, running Vista  Home premium, 32bit with 1015mb ram.
I have been regularly downloading the recommended updates, but have hit a snag twice lately which gave my computer a dose of indigestion.
Briefly, on both occasions I was downloading recommended "chipset" (what the *censored* is that?) updates. Did so and on both occasions the machine went berserk. On the first occasion the desktop icons shrunk right down to miniscule size. I adjusted the screen resolution and they came back, but when I opened applications such as word, Excell, or some other forums the font was miniscule size, the toolbar icons were very small, etc etc.
I didnt like that so on both occasions I did a "system restore" which fixed things up.
The latest download was "Intel Corporation Video, Intel, 82945G- Express chipset family. " The Machine didnt like that either. Same result.
I have several questions :-
1. What does a chipset do?
2.Is it imperative to download them?
3. Will the machine continue to run without these updates?
4. Is it possible to download them without the machine going bonkers?
Thanks in advance for any help to a mystified user. I miss my XP

[Deerpark]

Hello and welcome to the CH forums henell.

1. What does a chipset do?

It can do a lot of things. It refers to the chips that among other things ties together the different hardware components on your motherboard. Chipset manufacturers can also integrate certain hardware in the chipset. Most motherboards today have sound and networking capabilities integrated in the chipset for example. If it wasn't integrated you would need separate cards for sound and networking. (A lot of people still prefer non integrated solutions but that's another story.)
In this case the updates seems to be for a graphics card integrated in the chipset.

2.Is it imperative to download them?

Not really. My mantra for driver updates have always been, if it's not broken don't update it.

3. Will the machine continue to run without these updates?

Yes.
Driver updates for graphics cards are mainly for fixing/improving compatibility with new games. (Updates can correct other bugs as well... but like I said, if you're not experiencing any issues there's not point in updating.)

4. Is it possible to download them without the machine going bonkers?

A driver update for the graphics card might screw up the resolution but it shouldn't mess with fonts sizes and things like that. It's not something I've heard of before.

[henell]

Thanks mate. You have let a little light into the mystery of what goes on inside the box.
Cheers
Henry