Catalyzr

That's a great strategy. It's worth it to risk going into Cherno/Electro right when you spawn, so that you can quickly loot for basic survival items. I've found supermarkets to be the best resources in the game right when you spawn; in addition to food, you can sometimes find decent weapons, ammo, or even compass/map at a supermarket.

Wear it if you want to without fear of being labeled a "bandit," since everyone in DayZ shoots on sight anyway. But IMO it will be of very little benefit to you. If you hide well enough while sniping you probably won't need one, plus, if you have/find one, you can trade it for lots of (probably more useful) stuff.

Yes, I had the same problem with the Arma II patch shown as "out of date." All that I had to do was restart DayZ Commander; this might work for you. As far as the DayZ error goes, I did not encounter that, so restarting DayZ Commander might work for that or it might not.