SageTV is written in Java and some C I believe. It uses DirectX for video as well as BDA drivers for capture devices. SlimCenter is written in Perl and only touches minimal parts of the system.

I don't update drivers either. Everything was configured when the system was set up and that's it. Nothing should break when nothing is changed. If a new requirement is published for either Sage or Slim, then I evaluate and install the required component and any dependencies. None of the updates in the past year have required any system updates.

For me, this system is essentially an appliance, not a general purpose computer. Like running a DVD player or VCR. Something I don't want to update unless I absolutely have to.

Back a few years ago I can trace specifically my system troubles to the automatic Windows updates. The system became worse and worse until finally very unstable, strictly because of the updates that were put up by MS. I have no clue what part of them caused the issues as it was probably a combination and the way they were applied. But as I said, 99% of what's updated by MS has nothing to do with the requirements for the two programs I need to run 24/7 on that machine, so I don't risk installing them.

When I convert the system to a pure server (no video output) I will scale back some of the services as well, in addition to some of the eye candy features of the explorer UI. Unless of course I switch it all over to Linux when final/stable drivers are available for the new hardware I want to get.