Woody Leonhard has been posting about several changes coming to Windows Updates in February 2017 on his AskWoody.com site and Woody on Windows InfoWorld blog that might be of interest for Win 7 and higher users. Here are four important changes:
- It appears that Microsoft has finally come up with a permanent fix for the slow Windows Updates for most Win 7 SP1 users that does not require the installation of optional update KB3172605 (i.e., the latest Windows Update Agent v7.6.7601.23453) as instructed in Canadian Tech's thread Windows 7 Update solution in the MS Answers forum. Microsoft is currently purging several supersedence chains for Win 7 SP1 updates by expiring older updates that have been replaced (superseded) by newer updates. This means that older versions of the Windows Update Agent should be able to search for available updates in a reasonable amount of time on Win 7 SP1 machines. See ch100's comments <here> about RAM limitations in Woody's 14-Jan-2017 article Has Microsoft (finally!) solved the Windows 7 slow-update problem?
- Microsoft announced 13-Jan-2017 that they are changing how IE11 updates are delivered to Win 7 SP1 and Win 8.1 in Nathan Merser's latest MS TechNet blog entry Simplified servicing for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1: the latest improvements. Starting in February 2017 "the Security Only update will not include updates for Internet Explorer, and the Internet Explorer update will again be available as a separate update... The Monthly Rollup will continue to include updates for Internet Explorer, as a single additive update that provides all security and reliability fixes since the beginning of the new servicing model in October 2016". See Woody's 13-Jan-2017 article Simplified servicing for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1: the latest improvements.
- The latest Creators Update beta build 15002 (and 15007) for Win 10 Home now includes a setting that gives users the ability to turn off Windows Update for up to 35 days so that they aren't forced to install potentially buggy patches every Patch Tuesday. This feature is currently available for Win 10 users with the Professional, Education and Enterprise versions, and the assumption is that this feature will eventually be added to stable releases of Win 10 Home. According to Woody, the new Metered Connection feature also included in that beta build will allow Win 10 Home users to completely block forced updates from their settings. See Woody's 10-Jan-2017 article Windows 10 beta build 15002 brings real improvement as well as his 13-Jan-2017 article Win10 Home appears to be getting the “Pause Updates” setting.
- Just a reminder that January 2017 will be the last month that Microsoft publishes a monthly Security Bulletin Summary for security updates released on Patch Tuesdays (the second Tuesday of each month). As of February 2017, users who want information and download links for security updates must search the new Microsoft Security Updates Guide and its associated Software Update Summary. See Woody's 10-Nov-2016 article titled Microsoft to revamp its documentation for security patches.
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