Windows 7: updating programs with an active antivirus installed

this has been bothering me for a while, microsoft and many other companies offer every once in a while updates to their programs, adobe office, explorers etc... if i have an active antivirus program, how important is it to always update, for instance if the update is a security update.

case in point, if i have a computer that i do not surf the net, only work on, but i transfer files to another computer back and forth with a usb chip.
or another example, if i connect the above computer only through outlook to get emails, do i have to worry about always updating microsoft office or adobe programs.

of course my anti virus is always updated.



(i hope i put the question in the right section)

You should always ensure that your computer is as up to date as possible. This includes not only your anti-virus (AV) program, but also other applications such as MS Office and Adobe as well. We need to remember that, so long as your machine is connected to the Internet, it is continually being bombarded with traffic, some of which you have solicited (requested when asking for a web page), and some which you haven't. In most cases, the unsolicited traffic will be blocked, and you won't be aware of its existence. However, no anti-malware program is totally foolproof, so you still need to ensure that your defences are as secure as possible. Even if your AV is up to date, malware is being written all the time and it is quite possible that it is designed to target particular applications, such as Adobe Reader, etc, and if your AV doesn't yet have the definitions to detect it, then it will just pass through and infect the target program through code exploits and other techniques. By ensuring that applications are kept up to date, these code loopholes are kept to an absolute minimum.

dwarf, thanks for your reply, if i understood correctly, the answer is yes to always update, and the reason is because no antivirus is 100 percent. therefore even a computer that does not connect to internet, it should be kept up to date.
it just seemed a little odd that the antivirus might not have this specific virus detected, and microsoft and adobe would.

thank you very much for your reply.