There have been quite a few updates and the only way I can see to install them it to unstall the other version but I can seem to find a way to keep my settings.

I just did an update from build 5210 to 5218 without having to uninstall. Just as dmitri promised the update process seems to retain more settings than before now:

previously I would lose my associations and sometimes the workspace that was open.

Right, you don't need to uninstall if you update/upgrade from previous version. Uninstallation may be recommended only if something is screwed up completely.