Be sure to check with some reliable sources to tell you which of those (post SP3) updates are safe. IE 8 is called a critical download, but it can frag some systems - stay with IE 7.x but only use it when you have no choice (e.g. Windows Update). Use Firefox or another, more secure browser for daily use. And there is a huge .NET framework 3 patch that came out recently that can be dangerous to some systems - again, avoid installing that unless you are sure (I think this one was an optional update). I subscribe to the paid version of the Windows Secrets newsletter which warns me about hinky patches, etc. Shavlik and Secunia are some more sources of patch safety info.
.bh.