Can any Linux pros tell me whether there is any benefit to run Boot-Repair(from a live usb) as part of general maintenance, or is it only necessary when something is obviously wrong?

They are not for general maintenance if that is your question.

eco_bach, you have started literally dozens of threads in the last month and quite many of them are actually continuations of a previous, unsolved topic.
starting lots of threads is ok, but that last point is definitely frowned upon.

i also cannot help thinking that if you "solve" your linux problems in the same manner, your system is probably bogged down and broken beyond any repair by now.

i already wrote it in another thread of yours, i'll say it again:
consider starting from zero, with a clean slate, and be much, much more careful this time.
you can do almost everything in/with linux, but that doesn't mean you should.
people coming from windows often expect gnu/linux to have some sort of safety net - it hasn't. the only safety net is your common sense!
after all, it was written by people to be used by people. it is designed to make sense to human beings. never forget that.
and unless you know 100% what a command is doing, don't execute it, esp. if it's got "sudo" in front of it.

over and out.

Hey again eco_bach - good advice above from ondoho ... As I've mentioned in a couple of my responses to some of your other threads, reading up on stuff is probably a good idea. AND ... it should be fun. If it's not fun for you, maybe linux isn't for you.

On the specific question of Boot-Repair, it is a recovery tool - very useful one at that. But, it is not a maintenance tool - you only need it if you can't boot into an OS.

Cheers,

Advice taken. Will work on my reading to questioning ratio.

Unfortunately, so much of what is recommended in Linux is contradictory and subjective. ie partitioning schemes, swap sizes, graphics driver installations, etc

... This can indeed be true, not just for Linux but for anything technology-related. Please don't get discouraged. A good reading and reference suggestion, among others, is the Arch Linux wiki ... even if you're using another distribution, it is remarkably complete, useful and more often than not, applicable to Linux at large.

If you're coming from Windows, a lot of the issues you're used to facing are resolved differently in Linux (graphics drivers and such). At first, it seems more complicated and counter-intuitive the Linux way, but after a while, the opposite becomes more apparent. I am still pleasantly surprised at the availability of pretty well anything I've needed in the native Linux world, legitimately free to use and high quality at that. On those occasions where I need to go back to Windows (fewer and farer between ...), I find things more and more complicated.

Enough preaching ... ;-) ... Don't be turned off by the suggestions that you read up on stuff - no ill will intended by anyone. Linux is a bit of a do-it-yourself thing, though, so the more (at least basic) homework you've done, the more open-minded help you're likely to receive.

Cheers,