Fitz:
>I set to »load ’em down, but let me install them manually«. Will that suffice?
With the setting you use, all updates are downloaded to your PC (whether you want/need them or not). That is a waste of network resources and hard drive space.
I recommend using either the setting "check for updates but let me choose" or the setting "never check". Then, wait several weeks after the monthly updates are released (for the bugs to be fixed and bad updates identified) ... and manually install just the updates you want/need.
>Also: at »Woody’s« I didn’t find a conscise list of **** updates. Could someone please directly point me to a regularily updated list of good and bad updates, ideally with comments.
I think each person needs to decide what updates that want and which they do not want. Making a list of updates that works for everyone would be very difficult.
Microsoft usually releases monthly updates on the second Tuesday of each month (the next monthly updates are due to be released on November 10). Usually a few days before the new monthly updates are to be released (approximately November 9), the "askwoody" site reviews the previous month's updates (October) and identifies which can be trusted and which cannot.
So, I recommend that you not install any of the October updates at this time. Check the "askwoody" site around November 9 and then select the October updates that you wish to install. Then continue with that pattern: just before a new month's updates are to be released, determine which updates from the previous month are appropriate for you and install them.