I like them as they do what they say. The only time I get warnings is (usually) a Java update or an Adobe Acrobat update which I manually initiate. I am fairly brutal with apps on this machine (this one is MINE) though, so I doubt I get the benefit that the average user would get.
Oh and the answer in 99.9% of cases when it prompts you about apps wanting to run some crud is NO!
Only say yes if something is obviously broken and then find an alternative ASAP.