Patch Tuesday (also known as Update Tuesday[1]) is an unofficial term used to refer to when Microsoft regularly releases software patches for its software products. It is widely referred to in this way by the industry.[2][3][4] Microsoft formalized Patch Tuesday in October 2003.[5]
Patch Tuesday occurs on the second, and sometimes fourth, Tuesday of each month in North America. As far as the integrated Windows Update (WU) function is concerned, Patch Tuesday begins at 18:00 or 17:00 UTC (10:00 PST (UTC−8) or 10:00 PDT (UTC−7)).[6] The updates show up in Download Center before they are added to WU, and the KB articles and the Technet bulletin are unlocked later.
Microsoft has a pattern of releasing a larger number of updates in even-numbered months, and fewer in odd-numbered months.[7][8][9] Minor updates are also released outside Patch Tuesday. Daily updates consist of malware database refreshes for Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials. Sometimes there is an extraordinary Patch Tuesday, two weeks after the regular Patch Tuesday. Some updates could be released at any time.[10]
- 3Exploit Wednesday
History[edit]
Starting with Windows 98, Microsoft included Windows Update that once installed and executed, would check for patches to Windows and its components, which Microsoft would release intermittently. With the release of Microsoft Update, this system also checks for updates for other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office, Visual Studio and SQL Server.
Earlier versions of Windows Update suffered from two problems:
- Less-experienced users often remained unaware of Windows Update and did not install it. Microsoft countered this issue, in Windows ME with the Automatic Updates component, which displayed availability of updates, with the option of automatic installation.
- Customers with multiple copies of Windows, such as corporate users, not only had to update every Windows deployment in the company but also to uninstall patches issued by Microsoft that broke existing functionality.
Microsoft introduced 'Patch Tuesday' in October 2003 to reduce the cost of distributing patches.[11] This system accumulates security patches over a month, and dispatches them all on the second Tuesday of each month, an event for which system administrators may prepare. The following day, informally known as 'Exploit Wednesday',[12] marks the time when exploits may appear in the wild which take advantage on unpatched machines of the newly announced vulnerabilities.
Tuesday was chosen as the optimal day of the week to distribute software patches. This is done to maximize the amount of time available before the upcoming weekend to correct any issues that might arise with those patches, while leaving Monday free to address other unanticipated issues that might have arisen over the preceding weekend[citation needed].
Security implications[edit]
An obvious security implication is that security problems that have a solution are withheld from the public for up to a month. This policy is adequate when the vulnerability is not widely known or is extremely obscure, but that is not always the case.
There have been cases where vulnerability information became public or actual worms were circulating prior to the next scheduled Patch Tuesday. In critical cases Microsoft issues corresponding patches as they become ready, alleviating the risk if updates are checked for and installed frequently.
At the Ignite 2015 event, Microsoft revealed a change in distributing security patches. They release security updates to home PCs, tablets and phones as soon as they are ready, while enterprise customers will stay on the monthly update cycle, which was reworked as Windows Update for Business.[13]
Exploit Wednesday[edit]
Many exploitation events are seen shortly after the release of a patch;[14]analysis of the patch helps exploit developers to immediately take advantage of the previously undisclosed vulnerability, which will remain in unpatched systems.[15] Therefore, the term 'Exploit Wednesday' was coined.[16]
Discontinued Windows versions[edit]
Microsoft warned users that it discontinued support for Windows XP starting on April 8, 2014 - users running Windows XP afterwards would be at the risk of attacks. As security patches of newer Windows versions can reveal similar (or same) vulnerabilities present in both newer and older Windows versions, this can allow attacks on devices with unsupported Windows versions (c.f. 'zero-day attacks'). However Microsoft stopped fixing such (and other) vulnerabilities in unsupported Windows versions, regardless how widely known such vulnerabilities became, leaving these vulnerabilities unfixed and devices running these Windows versions vulnerable to attacks. Microsoft made a singular exception during the rapid spread of the WannaCry ransomware and released patches in May 2017 for the by then unsupported Windows XP, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2003 (in addition to then supported Windows versions).[17]
For Windows Vista 'extended support' was ended April 11, 2017, which will leave vulnerabilities discovered afterwards unfixed, creating the same situation for Vista as for XP before.[18]
For Windows 7 (with Service Pack 1) support will end January 14, 2020,[18] and on January 10, 2023 for Windows 8.1;[18] this will cause the same 'unfixed vulnerabilities' issue for users of these operation systems. Support for Windows 8 already ended January 12, 2016 (with users having to install Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 to continue to get support), and support for Windows 7 without SP1 was ended April 9, 2013 (with the ability to install SP1 to continue to get support until 2020, or having to install Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 to receive support after 2020).[18]
Windows 10[edit]
One major change with the introduction of Windows 10 was that Microsoft started to release a new version of Windows 10 twice per year, and with Microsoft's 'modern lifecycle policy' a newly released Windows 10 version starts a 'grace period' for the previous version with regard to support - unlike previous Windows products which received only infrequent updates via service packs, and support was governed by the 'fixed lifecycle policy'. With this new policy Home and Pro versions of Windows 10 will be provided with security and feature updates (so called 'mainstream support') for up to 18 months after release, 'enterprise' and education versions for 24 months.[18] To give an example: support for Windows 10 Home/Pro version 1703 (which was released in April 2017) will be stopped by Microsoft in October 2018, and support for versions 1507 and 1511 (released in 2015) officially ended in 2017.[19] Microsoft announced that it would give 'extended support' (security but not feature updates) for at least one 'semi-annual channel' (SAC) Windows 10 version until October 14, 2025.[20]
According to Microsoft a 'device needs to install the latest version (feature update) before [the] current version reaches end of service to help keep your device secure and have it remain supported by Microsoft'.[18] As with previous Windows operating systems, any device running such an unsupported version of Windows (which no longer receives security patches) is potentially affected by the 'unfixed vulnerabilities' issue beginning with the 'end of support' date. To counter this Microsoft has designed the update system for the Home and Pro editions of Windows 10 so that in most cases if technically possible the latest Windows version is downloaded and installed automatically - this has however drawn criticism due to other problems such forced upgrades can introduce.
Version | Codename | Build | Marketing name | Release date | Support until (and support status by color) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LTSC | Mobile | |||||||||
1507 | Threshold 1 | 10240 | N/A | July 29, 2015 | Old version, no longer supported: May 9, 2017 | Old version, no longer supported: May 9, 2017 | Older version, yet still supported: October 14, 2025 | N/A | |||
1511 | Threshold 2 | 10586 | November Update | November 10, 2015 | Old version, no longer supported: October 10, 2017 | Old version, no longer supported: October 10, 2017 | N/A | Old version, no longer supported: January 9, 2018 | |||
1607 | Redstone 1 | 14393 | Anniversary Update | August 2, 2016 | Old version, no longer supported: April 10, 2018 | Old version, no longer supported: April 9, 2019 | Older version, yet still supported: October 13, 2026 | Old version, no longer supported: October 9, 2018 | |||
1703 | Redstone 2 | 15063 | Creators Update | April 5, 2017 | Old version, no longer supported: October 9, 2018 | Older version, yet still supported: October 8, 2019 | N/A | Old version, no longer supported: June 11, 2019 | |||
1709 | Redstone 3 | 16299 | Fall Creators Update | October 17, 2017 | Old version, no longer supported: April 9, 2019 | Older version, yet still supported: April 14, 2020 | Current stable version:December 10, 2019 | ||||
1803 | Redstone 4 | 17134 | April 2018 Update | April 30, 2018 | Older version, yet still supported: November 12, 2019 | Older version, yet still supported: November 10, 2020 | N/A | ||||
1809 | Redstone 5 | 17763 | October 2018 Update | November 13, 2018 | Older version, yet still supported: May 12, 2020 | Older version, yet still supported: May 11, 2021 | Current stable version:January 9, 2029 | ||||
1903 | 19H1 | 18362 | May 2019 Update | May 21, 2019 | Current stable version:December 8, 2020 | Current stable version:December 8, 2020 | N/A | ||||
TBA | 19H2 | TBA | TBA | Latest preview version of a future release: 18 months | Latest preview version of a future release: 30 months | ||||||
20H1 | 18932 | Latest preview version of a future release: 18 months | |||||||||
Old version Latest version Future release |
In addition to the commonly used editions like Home and Pro, Microsoft offers specialized 'Long-Term Servicing Branch' (LTSB) or 'Long-Term Servicing Channel' (LTSC) versions of Windows 10 with longer support timelines, governed by Microsoft's 'fixed lifecycle policy', e.g. 'Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB' will receive extended support until October 13, 2026.[18]
Adoption by other companies[edit]
SAP's 'Security Patch Day', when the company advises users to install security updates, was chosen to coincide with Patch Tuesdays.[21]Adobe Systems' update schedule for Flash Player since November 2012 also coincides with Patch Tuesday.[22] One of the reasons for this is that Flash Player comes as part of Windows starting with Windows 8 and Flash Player updates for the built-in and the plugin based version both need to be published at the same time in order to prevent reverse-engineering threats.
Bandwidth impact[edit]
Windows Update uses the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) to download the updates, using idle network bandwidth.[23] However BITS will use the speed as reported by the network interface (NIC) to calculate bandwidth. This can lead to bandwidth calculation errors, for example when a fast network adapter (e.g. 10 Mbit/s) is connected to the network via a slow link (e.g. 56 kbit/s) - according to Microsoft 'BITS will compete for the full bandwidth [of the NIC] .. BITS has no visibility of the network traffic beyond the client.'[24]
Furthermore the Windows Update servers of Microsoft do not honor the TCP's slow-start congestion control strategy.[25] As a result, other users on the same network may experience significantly slower connections from machines actively retrieving updates. This can be particularly noticeable in environments where many machines individually retrieve updates over a shared, bandwidth-constrained link such as those found in many multi-PC homes and small to medium-sized businesses. Bandwidth demands of patching large numbers of computers can be reduced significantly by deploying Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to distribute the updates locally.
In addition to updates being downloaded from Microsoft servers, Windows 10 devices can 'share' updates in a peer-to-peer fashion with other Windows 10 devices on the local network, or even with Windows 10 devices on the internet. This can potentially distribute updates faster while reducing usage for networks with a metered connection.[26][27]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'August updates for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2'. Windows Experience Blog. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^'Microsoft Patch Tuesday to target Windows, IE'. CNet. October 10, 2011. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
- ^'.NET Framework 1.1 Servicing Releases on Windows Update for 64-bit Systems'. Microsoft. March 28, 2006. Archived from the original on March 27, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
- ^'Understanding Windows automatic updating'. Microsoft — Understanding Windows — Get Help. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
- ^Budd, Christopher. 'Ten Years of Patch Tuesdays: Why It's Time to Move On'. GeekWire. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- ^Trent, Rod (2004). The Administrator Shortcut Guide to Patch Management. p. 51. ISBN9781931491365.
- ^Gregg Keizer (9 June 2011). 'Microsoft slates hefty Patch Tuesday, to fix 34 flaws next week'. Computerworld. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^'Microsoft Ready To Patch 34 Security Vulnerabilities'. ITProPortal. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^Gregg Keizer. 'Microsoft to patch critical Windows Server vulnerability'. Techworld. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^'Patch Tuesday: WM 6.1 SMTP fix released!'. Microsoft — Outlook Mobile Team Blog. November 11, 2008. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
- ^'Microsoft details new security plan'. News.cnet.com. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
- ^Paul Oliveria (Trend Micro Technical Communications) (4 October 2006). 'Patch Tuesday… Exploit Wednesday'. Blog.trendmicro.com. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ^'Windows 10 bombshell: Microsoft to KILL OFF Patch Tuesday'. theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^'Exploit Wednesday'. afterdawn.com. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^Kurtz, George (2010-01-14). 'Operation 'Aurora' Hit Google, Others'. mcafee.com. Archived from the original on 2012-01-17. Retrieved 2014-08-12.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- ^Leffall, Jabulani (2007-10-12). 'Are Patches Leading to Exploits?'. Redmond Magazine. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
- ^'Customer Guidance for WannaCrypt attacks'. MSRC. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
- ^ abcdefg'Windows lifecycle fact sheet'. Microsoft. 2015-08-31. Retrieved 2015-08-31.
- ^Windows 10 v1507 End of Servicing for CB and CBB - Microsoft.com
- ^Search product life cycle - Windows 10 - Microsoft.com
- ^von Etizen, Chris (2010-09-15). 'SAP introduces a patch day'. The H Security. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
- ^McAllister, Neil (2012-11-08). 'Adobe switches Flash fix schedule to Patch Tuesdays'. The Register. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
- ^'About BITS'. MSDN. Microsoft. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
- ^MSDN BITS Network Bandwidth
- ^Strong, Ben (2010-11-25). 'Google and Microsoft Cheat on Slow Start'. benstrong.com. Archived from the original(blog) on December 7, 2013.
- ^Warren, Tom (15 March 2015). 'Microsoft to deliver Windows 10 updates using peer-to-peer technology'. The Verge. Vox Media.
- ^Chacos, Brad (3 August 2015). 'How to stop Windows 10 from using your PC's bandwidth to update strangers' systems'. PC World. IDG.
Further reading[edit]
- Evers, Joris (2005-09-09). 'Microsoft pulls 'critical' Windows update'. CNET News.com. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
- Schneier, Bruce (17 July 2006). 'Zero-Day Microsoft PowerPoint Vulnerability'. Schneier on Security. Example of report about vulnerability found in the wild with timing seemingly coordinated with 'Patch Tuesday'
- Schneier, Bruce (7 September 2006). 'Microsoft and FairUse4WM'. Schneier on Security. Example of a quick patch response, not due to a security issue but for DRM-related reasons.
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patch_Tuesday&oldid=902295478'
Hi, I do a lot of work in programs such as Photoshop and Inkscape, often I play games on this computer, etc.
There's rarely a time when I'm not in the middle of at least something on this computer. Every day, an annoying blue pop-up window appears and sidelines everything else (regardless of if I'm working in something that very moment) asking me to either update or say when I would like to be nagged again. My actual answer is, when I'm ready.
I'll initiate the update myself if I'm so desperate for whatever inconsequential change it holds (usually it reverts a lot of settings I had on various things, often removing the option to disable them). So yeah, updating isn't a big priority for me and I'd appreciate help on telling my computer to stop nagging me about it. Nothing's worse than having whatever you're casually working on shoved into the background by the update notification.
I also restarted the other day (not by choice, but because my computer locked up) and it took ages to boot back up because of supposed updates it was working on. This was less than a week ago and already it's nagging me again. I'm getting fed up on this, could someone kindly suggest a solution? (Preferably that doesn't require a restart in and of itself)?
Yesterday, I intended to take my laptop to visit a client, but when I was about to set off, yup, I couldn’t turn it off without allowing Microsoft to do its upgrades. We all know how long that takes, and I had a train to catch, so I ended up having to wing the whole presentation.
The infuriating thing is that I knew there was an upgrade around, so I had checked the power settings that morning to see if one was waiting to be installed. There was no update at 9am. Somehow Microsoft snuck it in without my noticing.
I do understand that people need to install updates, but can’t Microsoft give us an escape route? This is my computer and my software and my business, so please can you trust me, just this once? Celia
It’s easy to be caught out by Windows updates, and I once left the house carrying an open laptop, confident that the update would finish long before the battery ran down.
However, there is a fundamental divide between consumer and business versions of Windows. With consumer versions, such as Windows 10 Home, Microsoft takes a paternalistic view of updates: it tries to do what’s best for people who don’t know what they are doing. Business versions – Windows 10 Pro and the Enterprise and Education editions – are designed to allow IT departments and knowledgeable customers more control. That includes ways to defer some updates for a week, a month or even a year.
Many update problems stem from business people using consumer version of Windows, and this is understandable for sole traders and companies that are too small to employ IT staff. I don’t even think the extra features in Windows 10 Pro – BitLocker, Hyper-V, Remote Desktop etc – would be much use to people in your position. However, it doesn’t cost much to upgrade, and could be worth it if being able to delay upgrades helped you win a new client.
Otherwise, Microsoft has a Windows Update FAQ and a help page with a troubleshooter that you can download to help fix update problems.
Update strategy
Laptops that are only used intermittently seem more likely to receive forced updates. Microsoft tries to download updates in the background without users being interrupted or even aware that it’s happening. If you have an always-on desktop PC, the process is almost completely reliable. If you use a laptop for intense work then shut it down when you stop, there aren’t many gaps for updates to be downloaded and installed. You can help by setting your laptop to stay awake for an hour or two while it’s charging.
You can also pre-empt some inconvenient upgrades by looking for them.
Set aside an hour each week to clean up your PC, tidy away files, check your backups and perhaps run an extra virus scan with something like Malwarebytes Free. During your housekeeping session, run the Settings (cogwheel) app, click “Update & Security” and see if any updates are pending. If there are, you can either install them or click “Advanced options” and pick a time and date when you want them installed. If there aren’t, click the button that says “Check for updates” and see if it finds any.
Your PC may appear to be up-to-date, but a search may find updates marked “pending install” or “pending restart”. After you’ve installed those, check again, because there may be even more updates to install. If you need a lot of updates, they tend to come in batches, not all at once.
Pay particular attention after the second Tuesday of each month – “Patch Tuesday” – when Microsoft usually releases security fixes.
Microsoft is updating almost 700m PCs running Windows 10, and it doesn’t try to update all of them at once. By checking for updates, you can jump the queue and install them at your preferred time, not when Microsoft’s update servers get around to it.
Schedule a restart
When you have a restart pending, the Settings app provides two options: “Restart now” and “Schedule the restart”. Choose to schedule it and you can enter a date and time for the restart, which means you can put it off for up to six days.
Also click on “Advanced options” on the same Settings screen, and select the last option: “We’ll show a reminder when we’re going to restart. If you want to see more notifications about restarting, turn this on.” Instead of simply restarting at the time you entered, Windows 10 will ask again, enabling you to delay it again.
Active hours
Windows 10 lets you set “Active hours” in the Windows Update section of the Settings app. Click on “Change active hours” to set the times when you usually use your PC. You can reserve 18 hours out of 24 for work. Microsoft will generally not update your PC during these times.
If you are using your PC, you should get a “Heads up” notification to tell you that a restart is pending. You can either hit “Restart now” or “View settings” and select a time and date for the restart.
How to disable mods on fallout 4. I suspect that Microsoft did once restart my PC during my active hours, after I left it unattended for a couple of hours, so always save any work-in-progress beforehand. It takes less than a second to hit Ctrl-S.
Metered connections
Microsoft knows that not everyone has unlimited broadband, so it allows for “metered connections”. By default, Windows 10 sets ethernet wired and wireless networks to non-metered, and mobile connections to metered. People who have capped broadband and unlimited mobile broadband could switch these around, but the defaults suit most users.
If you have a metered connection, Windows Update will only download priority updates automatically, so it will be up to you to download the others. Setting both connections to metered will limit the amount of data Microsoft downloads, making you less likely to get a major update when you don’t expect one.
To set metered connections, run the Settings app, click on “Network & Internet” and then select “Change connection properties”.
Frankly, I don’t think setting metered connections offers enough benefits to be worth the effort, but some people may find it useful.
Windows 10 Pro
The business and professional versions of Windows 10 provide more control, even to people who are not IT experts. For example, the advanced options page in the Settings app includes an extra control, Pause Updates. This prevents any updates from being installed for the next week, though when the time is up, you cannot pause it again.
If you have Windows 10 Pro, this is the simplest solution to the Windows update problem. You can simply install all available updates on (say) a Sunday then pause updates during your working week.
The business versions of Windows also include Group Policies, which allow IT managers to control how their fleets of PCs work. However, you can edit them manually. Type edit group policy in the Windows search box and run the editor (gpedit.msc), then look for Windows Update in the Administrative Templates section, under Computer Configuration. The default setting is “3 – Download the updates automatically and notify when they are ready to be installed”. You can change it to “2 – Notify for download and notify for install”. That will reduce the chances of Windows 10 installing downloads when you’re not ready for them.
GPEdit also allows you to defer “quality updates” for up to 30 days, and “feature updates” for up to 365 days. This is useful for businesses that need to test applications before installing updates. It doesn’t prevent your PC from restarting to install security updates, but usually this doesn’t take very long.
Disable updates
Windows geeks know that you can do all sorts of things with its Administrative Tools. For example, double-click Services, and find Windows Update in the list. Yes, you can control how this service starts up, and you can stop it from running until you next reboot Windows. People shouldn’t mess with Services unless they know what they are doing. However, a small utility called Winaero Tweaker provides easy access to all sorts of tweaks, one of which is Disable Windows 10 Updates. This is not something I recommend, but there are times when it could be a useful short-term expedient.
At least Winaero Tweaker is safer than people changing Services or editing the Windows registry directly, where ignorance can lead to unfortunate results.
Have you got a question? Email it to [email protected]
You see your Windows 10 PC asking for a restart after updating itself and you near-panic. You wonder, will my PC boot after the update and continue to perform as it did, or would the update bring some problem along with it? Honestly speaking? This is what I feel every time I see an update being offered. Fortunately, I have been lucky, and I have not really faced any Windows 10 problems after installing updates on my Windows 10 Pro. But seeing the many issues being reported by users after almost every other update, I thought I should write a bit about this issue.
Read:
- Windows 10 Fall Creators Update problems & issues being reported.
Windows 10 Update problems
Why does every other Windows 10 Update bring some problem or the other to some user or the other?
Comments like these should cause concern to Microsoft:
The Win 10 updates are unpredictable. I’m scared to death each time the automatic updates (which I can not disable) happen. After an update one of more installed software stop working and need re-installing. I have no viruses or cracked software. The last Win 10 update corrupted the MBR (Master Boot Record) on my 2 laptops and 1 desktop. 3 computers done the same update at the same time and having corrupted MBRs is NOT a coincidence. Microsoft owes $900 just for this damage alone. i spent $300 for each computer to have the drives removed and put new drives in so I can keep my data that was not corrupted in the old hard drives. The “reset Win 10” without losing personal data function in the advanced settings was not working on all 3 computers. Thank God I had 3 spare SSDs as a backup, but it is such a hassle going through the old hard drives and saving all the data in different locations. I’m switching to MAC and ditching everything PC related – PERIOD!
Before Updates are finally released for end-users like you and me, Microsoft tests them extensively on their own test systems. The millions of enthusiastic Windows 10 users who are part of the Windows Insider Program, install the Insider Preview builds on their systems so that they can check out the new features, test the build and report bugs, etc. back to Microsoft. It is a great system and should work well. Microsoft gets an army of keen geeks, hungry to test out the new builds, in real-world situations.
Once the updates have been tested extensively, they are released to the main channel. Windows 10 Professional, Enterprise, and Education Edition customers can choose to Defer Windows Updates, but Windows 10 Home users have no such choice and the updates get installed on their PCs right away. When a user chooses to defer upgrades, the download, and installation of security updates will happen immediately, but the installation of the feature updates will be deferred for a couple of months.
But something seems to be going wrong somewhere.
I do not remember Windows 8 or Windows 7 users facing so many problems regarding Windows Update, as much as the Windows 10 users appear to be facing. Just to go through the comments on various Windows blogs, Reddit, Social sites, Forums or Microsoft Answers to get an idea of the frustration some are facing. As compared to the total number of Windows 10 users, the percentage may be very small, but it is enough to make a noise.
Here is a sampling of some of this site’s comments of users who are fed up with the update problems:
- UwasaWahya: Every time Windows 10 updates I have a new set of problems.
- Merig: After the screen goes off (timeout) it will not come back again.This is just today’s annoyance. Yesterday, W10 decided to delete some of my programs that worked fine the day before. Who asked them to f*** with my computer? Every bloody time Windows 10 updates I get hours of misery trying to fix issues.
- MadameSomnambule: …What do I do now? I’m fkd. Can’t update apps, can’t install language packs, and update’s stuck at 0%…
- Oround: I have many PC’s and every one of them has problems with W10’s update system. Seems like every update screws up something that used to work perfectly.
- Trish: … Can’t go forward, can’t go back. Stuck with a PC that does not work due to 1607 update…
- Musab: Yesterday it updated to newest build, on each mouse click my desktop tends to rotate 90 degrees right. I tried everything, and in last, I revert the update within 24 hours.
Trust me there are many more such, here on this site!
Now let us take a look at some of the recent problems some Windows 10 users have faced after installing updates.
Right from the beginning when Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 users upgraded their PC, they faced a bunch of installation or Upgrade errors like:
- Windows 10 stuck at login screen after upgrading
I am sure that there could be more.
But among the most common issues which affect most Updates for Windows 10 are:
- We couldn’t complete the updates. Undoing changes. Don’t turn off your computer.
Now take a look at some of the recent ones for Windows 10:
- KB3194798 : Cumulative Update KB3194798 is failing to install
- KB3194496 : Cumulative Update KB3194496, which upgraded your Windows 10 to Build 14393.222, made some PCs go in a loop and the update simply failed.
- KB3193494 : Cannot be installed and is rolled back
- KB3189866 : Download of KB3189866 Cumulative Update is stuck.
- KB3176938 : Update fails
- KB3176934 : Broke PowerShell
- KB3176495 : Download stops
- KB3176929 : Windows 10 Anniversary Update caused several problems | Partitions missing after installing Windows 10 Anniversary Update | Facing issues while installing Edge browser extensions | Freezing issues | Millions of webcams were broken.
- KB3147461 and KB3147458 caused broken apps, Start menu crashes, and crash loops and bluescreens.
- Cannot access the Internet after installing KB3201845.
My friend, Girish, recently had his right-click malfunctioning on his Lenovo Windows 10 Home laptop after a recent update. Till then he was very happy with Windows 10, but one experience like this was enough to piss him off.
Whether it is 1 person, 1000s or millions, Windows 10 Update problems, annoying folks seems to have become a trend. Every new update has some users scrambling to Microsoft Answers for help or searching on the Internet for solutions.
Who wants to run around applying workarounds?
A Windows 10 Home user does not have the time, inclination nor the expertise to carry out workarounds, change registry settings or clear the SoftwareDistribution folder. He/she just wants a stable Windows PC which he/she is in control of and runs smoothly at all times.
The other side
Windows gets installed on almost any hardware configuration. While most come with good drivers, some may not be up to the mark. Moreover, users have a wide ecosystem of software from which they can choose – and install the software they want. Some may or may not be coded well and thus can break after an OS update. And then again, some users love to tweak & tinker with their systems. An AV too could throw up a false positive and quarantine an OS file! All these and reasons like these can affect the installation of Windows Updates. Something gives away, and the update fails.
There is no denying that Microsoft engineers have been working hard and doing their best to address these issues – but maybe just a little something more needs to be done to ensure that problems caused by Windows Updates are near-nil.
One small suggestion
Microsoft should reconsider and allow even Windows 10 Home users to defer installing feature updates by giving them too the option to defer upgrades. Windows 10 users would be happy to be in more control of their PCs – and they would have the option to install updates after they are thoroughly tested on other systems for a month extra.
How has your experience been? How has Windows 10 and the Windows Update process in specific been treating you? Has it been a smooth ride or have you faced Windows 10 Update problems? Do share your experience in the comments section.
Windows 10 Updates Every Day
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Posted by2 years ago
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Basically, as the title reads. The auto updates, in my opinion, are a severe nuisance. The automatic restart that accompanies every update is entirely unacceptable.
Is there any way to get rid of auto updates and to remove Windows' ability to force as restart? Frankly, I don't care if the fix is very involved or kinda bootleg. I just need Windows to stop messing with my productivity.
Story time:
An hour ago, I decided to take a break from a nearly complete final project for a grad class. I took fucking time off from work to get this project done. I invested close to eight hours into it. At some point tonight, I hit the equivalent of the snooze button on the auto update dialog (since there's no cancel button). Anyway, I come back from my twenty minute break to find my computer on the login screen. I log in and have half of my programs open back up. The Adobe programs that I was using for my project do not open back up. Further more, the .ai file with the almost finished final copy of my project is now corrupted.
FUCKIN A.
I understand why auto updates exist. Same for auto restart. But as a professional user, Windows 10 just kills me sometimes. I could go on about how I used to freelance off my home computer and how Windows 10 killed that option for me, but that's beyond the scope of this post. I just want to be able to do basic things that I've always been able to do with a PC - like take breaks without having to worry about my computer sabotaging my work.
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