Is it safe to update my DAW-PC (Windows 8.1) to latest version of (Windows 8.1) ?

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Hi,

I have a dedicated DAW-PC running Windows 8.1 for almost two years now. without installing any updates to Windows 8.1

I'm currently having an issue with one application, which runs as standalone, and as a VST.

I was informed by the developer, that updating my Windows 8.1 to the latest version might fix the issue I'm experiencing. But, I'm not sure if updating Windows 8.1 to the latest version is safe to go forward with ? (basically, I want to avoid having any issues with the other Installed Applications, and VSTs, on my system after I update the OS). So is it OK to update Windows 8.1 ?

I'm also not sure if Microsoft Windows 8.1 updates are exclusively Security related, or are there some updates that add new functionality to the OS, that some applications might need to run ?

I would appreciate some feedback on this topic.

Thanks,
Muziksculp

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What I'd do if I would have a computer that has not been updated for so long is:
Take a backup image first
Prepare everything you need to restore that backup image
Update - few times
Boot - few times
Test software
If it works, you now have up to date boot image and tools to restore it if you didnt have those before :)
If it didnt, you may want to find the culprit (driver update may do this, I haven't had any bad luck with Windows updates themselves yet) or restore to previous state from the image.
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Ask the developer which Microsoft patch will resolve your problem and install those patches only. If you don't want to upgrade to the current patch level then you don't have to.
satYatunes - Sound and Graphic Designer
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satYatunes wrote:Ask the developer which Microsoft patch will resolve your problem and install those patches only. If you don't want to upgrade to the current patch level then you don't have to.
The developer is using Windows 10. So, there seems to be some component of my Windows 8.1 that needs to be updated to be compatible with the Windows 10 version the developer is using.

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:roll: "upgrade to latest version" on Windows 8 will bring it up to Windows 10
satYatunes wrote:Ask the developer which Microsoft patch will resolve your problem and install those patches only. If you don't want to upgrade to the current patch level then you don't have to.
Guess: the developer is clueless. This is a reflex-answer in case you're out of ideas: are you running latest versions of anything? Often worth a try, but it depends on what the problem is.

If the software in question is put on the market over two years ago, and it is tested to work with Windows 7 or any other previous version, then asking to upgrade is grasping at straws.

Windows upgrades are often security patches (that's what users are most nervous for) but can be any bug Microsoft thinks is worth fixing. Usually it's fine to do upgrades. But how would you find out whether it made anything else broken? You just have to hit it... And that's nearly impossible to test. So for common users it's mostly based on trust. For developers the situation is different: MSDN offers ALL versions of Windows free to download and install, so they can test how their software behaves on specific versions.

New functionality?? That should have no influence on an application! Because the app talks at very low level to the OS. Especially if the issue is also with a plugin version: a plugin only talks to the host and the host in turn talks to the OS. Would take a very odd use case for a bug in the OS (patched only in the last two years) to express itself through the host into plugin behaviour.

Mind you: I know nothing about what the issue at hand is here. Would be nice to know...
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