I know that this is an old question but I thought I'd reply in case the info is useful to others.
I would recommend updating when possible as the updates include a lot of backend SDK updates that can improve performance. When it comes to Whirligig on a standalone headset, when you uninstall all settings files are removed. So for a full clean install uninstall and then install the latest version. If you install without uninstalling you settings won't get removed, however if you find you have issues (sometimes previous settings can cause issues, I try to avoid this but it can happen) uninstall and reinstall can often help :)