Patches are usually issued by the software mfg to improve what they either released originally or screwed up with previous patches. So do not assume they're anything or not really of much importance. Some are downright necessary sometimes. And you'll never know from just reading about them.

Sometimes they're also necessary to keep up with changes in our computer environment. They may only be necessary for example for people who've just bought a pc with the Vista operating system. Or they might be corrections of originally released code that didn't work with one specific video card or somesuch. Software developers often release for a deadline with one or two specific strings untied.