That's a steam issue. If you keep the steam client running, updates happen automagically and you never see them. If you just have the desktop/startmenu, and don't keep steam running, it doesn't know there is an update until you launch, at which point steam opens. So, that's working as designed.
Nothing to report here. This mission was surprisingly easy. I would say easier then the previous one... (I have to admit to cheating on the last one to progress ). It seems odd pacing. But I assume it is leading to something so I will not kick up a fuss.
I like the new part 3, it upped the difficulty a little and reinforced a need for creative websearches