How to find out more about Windows updates before you install them

Martin Brinkmann
Oct 14, 2015
Windows
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21

While there are certain categories of Windows Updates that I would call mandatory to install, security patches come to mind first and foremost, there are other updates that are not required to operate the system or beneficial to it.

A prime example of this is the "get Windows 10" update that pushes the notification to machines running previous versions of the Windows operating system. Others include new telemetry updates for Windows 7 and 8, but also updates that may cause issues on some systems.

Windows users and administrators who want to upgrade the system to Windows 10 may find them useful but users who don't, certainly won't.

It is often better not to blindly trust companies, and it does not really matter if it is Microsoft, Google, Apple or any other big player in tech; if you want to be on the safe side of things, you better make sure that what you install on your devices is not taking advantage of you or installing functionality that you don't require.

microsoft windows security bulletins patches october 2015

So how can you be sure that the updates that Windows Update finds for your PC and operating system are needed or beneficial?

There is unfortunately no quick option to list all updates and their purpose. One of the first things you may want to do is block the automatic installation of updates on the system. If you don't, updates will get installed automatically which in turn means that you don't have time to research them prior to that.

Configure Windows' update behavior

block automatic windows updates

One of the better ways to define how Windows handles system updates is through the Group Policy Editor. While you find options in the Registry and the Windows Update tool as well, it makes things a lot easier and gives you better control over the process.

Note though that the Group Policy Editor is only available in Professional, Business, Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows.

  1. Tap on the Windows-key, type gpedit.msc and hit enter. You may get an UAC prompt which you need to accept.
  2. Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update.
  3. Locate "Configure Automatic Updates" and double-click on the entry.
  4. Switch its state to enabled, and set it to "notify for download and notify for install" under "configure automatic updating".
  5. Click on the ok button to save the change.

Research updates available for your Windows PC

windows support

Now that you have configured the PC to only inform you about updates but not to download and install them automatically, you have enough time to research them before you make decisions.

Since there is no quick option to find out about an update in the Windows Update client, you need to do it all manually.

Updates are listed with a KB ID usually in Windows Update which we will use to find out more about them.

Instead of using search to find out more about it, you may want to start doing the following:

  1. Paste https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/ into your web browser of choice and add the KB ID of the update afterwards, e.g. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3088195 for KB3088195.
  2. This opens the Microsoft Support site revealing information about the update.

While that is helpful most of the time, it sometimes falls short. Updates may get released before the Support page is published which means that you will get an error when you try to open the page. In addition to that, you may get zero information about the update or what it does on the page.

If that is the case, you may want to run a search for the KB ID on the Internet to find out more about the update. The best way in my opinion is to search for KB3088195 but you may want to try KB 3088195 as well (replace the ID with the actual update ID).

Tip: We try our best to list all updates on Microsoft's Patch Day. These link to support articles directly so that you may want to use those first as it may be more convenient.

Now You: Do you research Windows Updates before you install them on your system?

Summary
How to find out more about Windows updates before you install them
Article Name
How to find out more about Windows updates before you install them
Description
Why you should disable automatic updates in Windows and research all updates prior to installing them on your computer.
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Comments

  1. Dan Donx said on January 15, 2023 at 10:29 am
    Reply

    What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?

    Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.

    If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.

  2. Dexter said on January 15, 2023 at 11:14 am
    Reply

    5. Rufus
    6. Ventoy

    PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.

    1. cdr said on January 15, 2023 at 3:32 pm
      Reply

      I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.

  3. sv said on January 15, 2023 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.

    ps…. time travelling?
    written. Jan 15, 2023
    Updated • Jan 13, 2023

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 16, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.

  4. Anonymous said on January 16, 2023 at 8:24 am
    Reply

    Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.

  5. basingstoke said on January 16, 2023 at 11:18 am
    Reply

    I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:

    1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)

    2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)

    3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””

    4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows

    5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss

    Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:

    6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now

    Have I missed any group off this list?

    1. Heinz Strunk said on September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm
      Reply

      You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.

      Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.

  6. ilev said on August 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update

    1. EP said on August 24, 2023 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      only from windows update though
      KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site

  7. Anonymous said on August 24, 2023 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.

    2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.

    3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.

    This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
    Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.

    Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.

  8. john said on August 24, 2023 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.

    1. John G. said on August 25, 2023 at 12:08 pm
      Reply

      Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.

  9. EP said on August 25, 2023 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215

  10. EP said on August 29, 2023 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    check out the following recent articles:

    Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
    https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/

    BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/

  11. Leonard Britvolli said on August 30, 2023 at 10:33 pm
    Reply

    While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.

  12. sembrador said on September 5, 2023 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.

  13. EP said on September 6, 2023 at 11:55 am
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):

    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277

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