I manually update as well. And by manually, I actually manually check the specific webpage to see if an update is available. In the thread that darcilicious
references, I explain in more detail about my manual update process.
Like you, I disable all automatic update items for the software that I use. I also have to go back when I do manually update something to make sure that the software did not add some kind of new automatic update process, or if the automatic update process that I had disabled is now enabled again.
Its a bit more work that's for sure, but at least I know when updates will be installed, and I don't get a surprise if I suddenly have a new version of something.
I would rather look myself at the actual webpage, or read about an update on here then for the software to check for, and automatically download updates.
--Brian