bought refurbished pc

Not sure what to do. Newbie to site!

I just got a refurbished Gateway GT5435E Desktop Computer; AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4600+, Dual Core processor with AMD64 Technology
Each core operates at 2.4 GHz
2 × 512 KB L2 cache
2000 MHz system bus

Chipset NVIDIA® GeForce® 6150SE
Memory Installed: 2048 MB DDR2, 533 MHz, (PC4200) dual channel memory (two 1024 MB DIMMs)
Expandable to: 4 GB total memory (4 DIMM DDR2 slots)

Hard Drive 320 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA II hard drive
Support for up to two hard drives

So far I have installed logitech wireles keyboard/mouse, zonealarn security suite, open office, firefox, adobe flash player 10active x & plug-in, java and real player, and silverlight. Spent last 2 days doing all windows updates…including sp1 & sp2 via auto updates. System is windows up to date. So far, no problems and machine is running good.

Pc came with Windows Vista Premium 32 bit. IE is now update to IE8.
No extra software programs were preinstalled. No updates of the hardware via manufacturer after factory shipping in early 2007.
So no gateway model updates were done.

I plan to backup system onto either dics or media stick when I get something next week.

So the questions are;

1. Sould I go ahead and install the update downloads on gateways support site now? (and there is quite a list)

2. What type of medium should I buy to store a recovery copy. cd-r or cd-rw Memory Stick? or something else? or flash drive? No experience with any of these devices but am a quick easy learner. What do I need to use and buy now?

I have and can install ram upgrades via watching a how to video.

3. Should I back-up copy of present pc system before or after updating or do both? just in case

Since the pc is working great right now, I'm thinking, I should save present system to something flash/ or memory card, cd's or whatever, just in case I screw something up. And then if everything updates fine, then save that before adding more programs or cam, printer, other programs, apps and so forth. So need some guidence and advice on what to get and how to.
just unsure. Also am only average on tech stuff…no expert here. Have never done commands or complicated type stuff. and vista is new to me..have been using xp home. So a little nervous about driver updates if it requires more than pc doing the installing and all the work..if you know what I mean. Is this too much info? sorry if it is

gateway downloads list for my pc model;
http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers…&os=Windows Vista (32-bit)

Hi As your machine is working fine now would be a good time to make a disc image you can Keep it safe on remoable media (a Usb Ext hard d rive is very useful and cheeap to buy) Regards paws

1/ Only if needed, given the dates of the drivers not being touched since 07 Vista will have already installed the latest of anything that was needed, as to the other downloads, I didn't read each one, but it struck me that a lot were bios related, and even they say not all downloads may apply to your system, so IMHO unless it is installed to start with, or you think you want it, then leave it be. 2/ The best medium varies a lot dependant on a users requirements, I will cover some options and you can see what suits you best::- Cd's\DVDs, great to back up to disk as permanent storage, but scratched disks could mean your not able to read it anymore, so careful storage is advised, also you can burn an image of your system so should the worst happen you can load the system back from such disks, but this is an area I have yet to get right personally lol. RW disks, great for regular\multiple burning for transferring files and the like, great short term solution for short term use without wasting disks as you can reuse these again and again. Thumb\Pen drives, fantastic tool for fast transfer of files between systems, their only limit is size (in ratio with price), but a 4gig one is dirt cheap, and more than enough for the average user, but again these are short term solutions. External drives, a fairly cheap back up solution favoured by most, you can get 1TB drives very cheap now, so masses of cheap storage to back up everything you need, and if it gets full ? just buy another one, most attach via USB, but for best transfer times look to eSATA or FireWire connections, your PC will need to support this type of connection. There is 1 other solution along the same line, but instead of an external drive get an internal one, it save space on your side, the downside is you can't easily carry it around unlike an external one, and versions of raid are a good choice for some, but given the drive limitations (you can only have a few) it's not worth following that line. 3/ Depends what you want, yes backing up the system if your happy with it is a wise move, if I had mastered this I would of saved literally months of my time sorting out mates systems lol, but the ideal time to back it up is when it is set up how you want it, that way you should be able to restore the system to the same point it was saved rather than still having to install all the other stuff again, but if you wanted to save it as is now incase something goes wrong installing anything else, then it certainly can't hurt. I hope this helps you choose what you want, just remember having back up's on media doesn't mean that media can't go bad as well, so anything that seriously can't be lost is best saved in more than 1 format, that way if one fails you still have another, but clear labelling of your media means less confusion 6 months down the road figuring what is where. *edit paws slipped in with a quick reply while I was typing lol, dam my slow typing.

Thanks guys! update; I just purchased on ebay cd-r's and dvd-r's memorex disc. So which ones should I use? Also got a 320 gb external What's Included… * External Hard Drive * Power Cord & AC Adapter * USB cable * Retail Box * All with a 6 Month Warranty Specifications # 320Gb 7200 RPM # 40 times faster (480 MBPS) than USB 1.1 # Solid Aluminum Body # Truly Plug and Play - Hot Swappable # Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/Vista # Universal Auto-Switching Power # Built-in ON/OFF Power Switch for easy usage Manufacturer: MOVING STAR Model: ETERNAL HARD DRIVE 320GB I hope it's a good model…eeeks never used one before. Thanks again!

I'm glad you got the - (minus) disks, they usually play nice with more hardware than the + (plus) disks. As to what you use, that depends on the job you intend to do, my attempts at creating a back up that works have all failed (the people I've tried this for always seem to be able to break them no matter what I do), so I'll leave someone with better insight to guide there, but off the top of my head I would guess burning an image to disk (DVDs) would be the way to go, then use the external drive to save general data you want to keep safe, I can't say anything about the drive though as I've never heard of it, I would of got a Samsung F1 (1TB) drive and a separate caddie for speed and space, but you should be happy with what you have, until you end up needing more space lol. I remember I bought a system with 2x40gig drives thinking I'll never use all that, now I have one of these drives as a slave and will probably get another in the future lol.