Step 1: Understand that there are updates, and then there are updates.
Confused about how updates work in Windows 10? Join the club. In this latest version of its operating system, Microsoft has transformed what was once a straightforward procedure into a seemingly complicated process that varies according to whether you have Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro or an enterprise or education edition. As a result, there have been lots of misperceptions about how Windows 10 Update works, and how to best use it.
Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows 10 doesn’t give you the option to review pending updates and choose not to install them (although, as you’ll see later on in this piece, there are a few exceptions to that). Instead, the updates automatically install on a schedule of Microsoft’s choosing. When updates are available, Windows 10 automatically downloads and installs them.
With this article, we hope to make things clearer for you. We’ve delved deep into Windows 10 Update and come up with answers to users’ most pressing questions: Whether you have to accept all updates, whether you can uninstall existing updates and how to reduce the bandwidth some updates use. We’ve also included some hidden extras, like how to stop all updates if you want.
We originally published this article in December 2015, but now we are updating it for the current release, the Windows 10 April 2018 Update. If you haven’t made the move to that new version of Windows 10, things might look or work a bit differently for you.
Read on for details.
All updates are not created equal
You might be wondering: Why is this article that addresses how to handle Windows updates specifically tailored to doing that within a Windows update? After all, if you have installed the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, it wouldn’t seem you need help with handling updates. Simple answer: That’s not quite true.
In Microsoft-speak, there are updates and then there are updates, like the April 2018 Update. Let’s refer to those as major updates.
Microsoft used to differentiate by referring to “upgrades” and “updates,” but over time, the word “upgrade” seems to have disappeared from its lexicon.
But there remain differences between updates and major updates. Updates that aren’t major, like the updates of old, fix security issues, squash bugs and make relatively insignificant changes to Windows, typically under the hood. They’re delivered on Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of every month, and at other times if deemed too critical to wait.
On the other hand, major updates, like yesteryear’s upgrades, “install the latest new features, experiences and capabilities” of Windows 10, according to Microsoft. Microsoft is now on a schedule to issue two major updates a year, approximately six months apart. The first major update to Windows 10 was in November 2015. The latest was the April 2018 Update.
Why did Microsoft make everything an update? It’s hard to say, but even when the company made the distinction between updates and upgrades, it didn’t always follow its own naming convention when describing them to the public. For example, when Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s executive vice president for the Windows and Devices Group, blogged about the Windows 10 upgrade in November 2015, he headlined it, “First major update for Windows 10 available today.”
Windows 10 updates and how to defer them
While it may sound at first as if Microsoft has completely taken control of the update process, you do have some options. To see whether any updates have been downloaded and scheduled to be installed, click the Start button and select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.
That brings up the Windows Update screen, which shows any updates that have been downloaded, as well as any that are waiting to be downloaded. If you want to check to see if any updates have become available since the last time Windows checked for them, click “Check for updates.” Next to any update that has been downloaded but not yet installed, you’ll see the words, “Status: Awaiting Install.”
Although Windows 10 will automatically install the downloaded updates, you have some control over when the installation takes place, so that it doesn’t interrupt your work. On the Windows Update screen, click “Change active hours.” Select the hours you’re typically using your computer. Updates won’t be installed during those hours. Note, though, that the total number of active hours can’t exceed 18.
Your system may or may not need to restart in order to install the updates. Typically, updates that add virus definitions for Windows Defender don’t need the system to restart, while other updates do. Your PC will restart to finish installing the updates only during non-active hours. And you even have a bit of control over that. If, for some reason, you want the downloaded update to immediately install, on the Windows Update screen click “Restart now.” And if you want to have your PC restart at a specific time, click “Restart options,” and select the day and time you want your PC to restart.
You can also ask Windows Update to install not just updates to Windows 10, but also for other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office. To do that, on the Windows Update screen, click Advanced Options, and on the “Update Options” screen that appears, click “Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows.”
There is a workaround to the must-always-update-immediately rule — assuming you have Windows Professional, Enterprise or Education. In those cases, you have some control over pausing updates. To do it, click the Start button and select Settings > Update & Security > Advanced options, then go to the box “Choose when updates are installed.” This setting will control whether to defer the twice-yearly upgrade to Windows 10, and how to do it. You have two choices:
- Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted): This lets you specify how long after the upgrade is released you want to wait before installing it. In the box below this option, you can choose how many days you want to wait before installing, up to 365.
- Semi-Annual Channel: If you choose this, the upgrade will be deferred until after Microsoft has determined it’s ready for businesses to use. That usually takes between three and four months. That’s just the starting point for the deferral, though. In the box below this option, choose a number up to 365. That’s how many days the upgrade will be deferred after Microsoft says the upgrade is fine for businesses to install.
These settings apply only to the twice-annual Windows 10 upgrades. You can also defer the more frequent Windows 10 feature updates. To do it, go to the box marked “A quality update includes…” and in the dropdown box choose the number of days you’d like quality updates deferred. You can choose up to 30 days.
You’ll find an additional setting that’s somewhat confusing — the Pause update setting. Select this and it pauses updates for five days, except Windows Defender updates. Note that this setting takes precedence over the settings outlined in the previous several paragraphs.
There’s also a sneaky, little-known workaround for any version of Windows 10, including Home, that can prevent you from installing Windows updates entirely (except for important security updates). But you can’t do it on a case-by-case basis — you either install all updates or none at all. And you can only do it on PCs that are connected to a network via Wi-Fi — if you have an Ethernet connection, it won’t work.
To do it, you need to tell Windows 10 that you’re on a metered connection — in other words, that you’re being charged by how much data you use. Click the Start button and select Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi / Manage known networks. On the screen that appears, scroll to your Wi-Fi network and click Properties. On the screen that appears go to the “Metered connection” setting and set the slider from Off to On.
When you do that, Windows will minimize the data you use, and one of the ways it does that is to stop automatically downloading Windows updates. Keep in mind, though, that if you connect to another Wi-Fi network, you’ll have to turn that setting on for that network as well. If you don’t, updates will happen automatically.
If you’re connected to a network via Ethernet, you can’t use this technique.
And finally, Windows Pro users can use the enterprise-level Windows Update for Business (WUB) tool to control the timing of upgrade and update delivery.
View your update history and uninstall updates
Although Windows 10 won’t allow you to pick and choose which updates to install, you can uninstall some updates that cause you problems.
To do it, first see what updates have been installed by clicking the Start button and selecting Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View update history. You’ll see a list divided into five sections: Feature Updates, Quality Updates, Driver Updates, Definition Updates and Other Updates. The Feature Updates section shows the major updates — for example, the Windows 10 April 2018 Update. However, don’t expect to see that in plain English in the Feature Updates section. Instead, you’ll see the version number Microsoft uses to refer to the upgrade — Windows 10, version 1803 for the April 2018 Update, for example.
The Quality Updates section lists the more mundane, and more frequent, updates to Windows that fix bugs, improve security and add minor features. Driver Updates, as the name implies, shows all the drivers that have been updated. Definition Updates lists all the antivirus and anti-malware updates for Windows’ built-in anti-malware tool. Other Updates lists miscellaneous updates, such as to the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.
You get information about any of the updates slightly differently, depending on whether you’re looking for details about a feature update, a quality update, a definition update, a driver update or an “other” update. For feature updates, on the “View update history” screen, go to the Feature Updates section, look for the update for which you want details, and underneath the date it was installed, click “See what’s new in this update.” For quality, definition, driver or other updates, go to the appropriate section, look for the update for which you want details, and click it.
When you click to get details about a feature update, you’ll be sent to a page full of tips, videos and other content about the update. For quality, driver, and other updates, you’ll be sent to a web page with a detailed written description of the update. With definition updates, you’re supposed to be sent to a web page with a detailed written description of the update. However, every time I’ve tried doing so on two separate PCs, I’ve received the following error message: “We are sorry, the page you requested cannot be found. The URL may be misspelled or the page you’re looking for is no longer available.”
If you want to uninstall an upgrade like Windows 10, version 1803, listed in Feature Updates, you’ll have to do it within 10 days of the upgrade being installed. After that point you’re out of luck; the update will stay. If you do want to uninstall it in that 10-day time period, go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery. In the “Go back to the previous version of Windows 10” area, click the “Get started” button and follow the series of prompts.
Even if you want to uninstall the upgrade within the 10-day period, however, the “Go back to the previous version of Windows 10” selection might not appear. If that’s the case, you won’t be able to uninstall the update. The selection won’t appear if your Windows.old folder has been deleted. That folder holds the previous version of Windows, so if it’s not there, you can’t revert to the previous version.
You can, however, uninstall updates listed in Quality Updates, Definition Update, Driver Updates, and Other Updates. To do it, select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View installed update history. To uninstall an update, click “Uninstall updates” at the top of the screen. On the screen that appears, click on the update you want to get rid of, then click Uninstall.
Note, though, that you won’t be able to uninstall all updates. Not every update listed in the “View installed update history” will appear on the screen that lets you uninstall updates, and you can’t uninstall any that don’t appear there. And when you click some updates that do appear on the uninstall updates screen, the uninstall button vanishes.
In some instances, you may be able to make sure that Windows 10 won’t reinstall the update you’ve uninstalled, using a free Microsoft tool to essentially hide it from Windows Update. To do it, go to this Microsoft support page, scroll toward the bottom and click the “Download the ‘Show or hide updates’ troubleshooter package now” link. Install the download, click Next, and follow the instructions for hiding the update you don’t want reinstalled.
Get into the fast lane with the Insider Program
Are you the kind of person who needs to be first in the technology know and wants the latest version of Windows before its general release? If so, you’ll want to become part of Microsoft’s Windows Insider Program. When you do that, you’ll get the latest Windows updates before everyone else. Keep in mind, though, that when you do this, you’re somewhat of a guinea pig, because Microsoft uses the program to find bugs and problems with updates.
If it’s something you want to do, head to the Windows Insider page and sign up. Then on your PC, click the Start button, select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program and click Get Started. You’ll be warned that you’ll be using software that might not be fully tested. If you still want to go ahead, click Next.
After that comes an even scarier notice that warns you that “if you ever want to stop receiving Insider Preview builds you may need to remove everything from your PC and reinstall Windows.” If you’re still not scared, click Confirm. You’ll then have to restart your PC.
After your PC restarts, click the Start button and select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program. You’ll see in the “Get Insider Preview builds” section that you’ll now receive Insider Preview builds.
You have a choice of receiving the Insider Preview builds as soon as they’re released or after they’ve been tested a while (but before they’re released to the general public). Microsoft calls these options the “fast ring” and “slow ring.” To choose one of the rings, in the “What kind of content would you like to receive?” section, select “Active Development of Windows.” Then in the “What pace do you want to get new builds?” section, choose either the Fast or Slow ring. At any time, you can come back here and switch between them.
You have another set of choices as well, separate from the fast and slow rings. In the ““What kind of content would you like to receive?” section, the dropdown menu offers these three choices:
- Just fixes, apps, and drivers. Select this and rather than getting any new Windows builds more quickly, you only get bug fixes, driver updates and app updates more quickly.
- Active development of Windows. Choose this, and as outlined previously, you get the choice of being put into the fast or slow ring for updates.
- Skip ahead to the next Windows release. When you choose this, you skip over the previews for the next upgrade of Windows, and instead you get previews for the upgrade after that. Note that you’ll only get these updates at the point when the next Windows upgrade is nearly finished and with few previews left, and the version after that is in very early development. There’s a good chance that this selection won’t appear in the dropdown menu, because Microsoft has limited the number of people it allows into the Skip Ahead program and hasn’t been letting new people in for quite some time.
If you want to opt out of getting Insider Preview builds, click “Stop Insider Preview builds” at the very top of the screen. You have three choices form the screen that appears:
- Move to a less risky and less frequent schedule. You can pretty much ignore this option, because not only is it extremely confusing, but it uses terminology that Microsoft abandoned in late July 2017, and it duplicates the settings described in the three previous bullet points. So don’t bother to click.
- Pause updates for a bit. Click here and from the screen that appears move the slider from Off to On, and you’ll pause updates from being installed for seven days.
- Roll me back to the last Windows release. This selection brings you to the Settings’ Recovery section which allows you to roll your PC back to the latest public version of Windows. So you’ll wipe out all preview releases and go back to being on the normal Windows update schedule.
- Stop Insider builds completely. Choose this, and you’ll no longer get Insider builds.
Use peer-to-peer networking to install updates
When it comes to updating Windows 10, Microsoft borrowed a technique from peer-to-peer networking apps such as BitTorrent in order to help distribute updates more efficiently. If you want, you can tell Windows 10 that you want updates delivered from other PCs via peer-to-peer networking in addition to getting them from Microsoft servers.
Why would you want to do this? If you have multiple Windows 10 PCs on a network, you can save bandwidth, because the update can be delivered from Microsoft’s servers to one PC on your network, and that PC can then deliver the update to the other Windows 10 PCs.
To turn this feature on, click the Start button and select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced options > Delivery Optimization. Underneath the “Allow downloads from other PCs” section, move the slider to On, then choose “PCs on my local network.” If you choose “PCs on my local network, and PCs on the Internet,” the PCs on your network will get updates from other PCs on the internet — but your PCs will also send updates to those other PCs as well, and so you could end up using additional bandwidth.
This article originally appeared on ComputerWorld.