RHN Notification tool/up2date behavior

[Don]

I did a clean install of Fedora Core 1 and use the the rhn alert
notification tool on the task bar and up2date.

- the notification has never shown that updates are available, but when
I run it "manually" there have been a few updates

- every time it starts, a window pops up saying the system does not seem
to be registered with rhn... click "Register with RHN" or "Cancel". I
always say "register with RHN" but I'm never prompted for any more
information and as far as I can tell no form of registration is done.
(Maybe it's attempted and fails without notice for all I know)

- Often there is an error/warning message: (Which is not selectable, so
I can't cut/paste it... aarrgghh): The applet has been unable to access
the following information sources in its last attempts: fedora-core-1 @
http://fedora.redhat.com/releases/fedora-core-1, updates-released @
http://fedora.redhat.com/updates/released/fedora-core-1

I see that message after it tells me my system is fully up to date. So
is it really up to date? How does it know if it couldn't reach those
sites? 

I thought Redhat was dropping the requirement to "register" Fedora
systems. Maybe it has, since I've not registered either of my two, I
just get told all the time it's not registered.

It's important to me that something as basic as "getting updates" works
properly... especially for new comers to Linux etc.... experts can do
anything, but newbies need help and making it simple to keep up with
security fixes, and fixes in general helps. Newbies continue on to
become experts... :-)

I've already been told "maybe Linux isn't for you"... when I was making
comments about simplifying things.... before anybody voices that
sentiment again, tell me the last time you started your car with a
hand-crank instead of using the electric starter. :-)

I just want a reliable "up to date" tool right out of the box... if
anything else gets broken, fixes can be obtained/installed via the
"always working up-to-date tool".

Don