[Bush2000]

That's specific to your situation, and should be treated as such each and every time.

I only pointed it out because it contradicted your previous statement:

" That may be true for windows boxes, but there is no reason to ignore patching a linux box. There is not the risk of breakage that exists with windows patches."

[HipShot]

I used examples to point out that you are indeed correct about the nature of some patches, but they can be managed.

Windows patches, OTOH, often break entirely unrelated things and often introduce new security issues.