Microsoft is pausing optional Windows update releases
Microsoft announced yesterday that it plans to pause the release of optional Windows updates from May 2020 onward.
The company releases so-called C and D releases in the third or fourth week of any given month. These are considered preview updates and completely optional.
Windows administrators will have to check for updates manually to detect them in Windows Update or download them from the Microsoft Update Catalog website to install them on devices.
It has been my recommendation from the start to only install these preview updates if they fix an issue or issues that are experienced and severe enough to justify the installation of a preview update on a machine.
The updates are usually included in the following month's Patch Tuesday updates anyway.
Timing for upcoming Windows optional C and D releases
We have been evaluating the public health situation, and we understand this is impacting our customers. In response to these challenges we are prioritizing our focus on security updates. Starting in May 2020, we are pausing all optional non-security releases (C and D updates) for all supported versions of Windows client and server products (Windows 10, version 1909 down through Windows Server 2008 SP2).
The change applies to all supported versions of Windows including Windows 10 but also server versions of Windows.
Microsoft does not mention the Coronavirus pandemic specifically but it seems likely that it is referring to it and that it is the reason why Microsoft made the decision to pause the creation and distribution of these preview updates.
Pausing indicates that the change is temporary in nature and that the production of preview updates will resume once the situation is under control.
The change won't affect the security update releases of any given month (also called B releases as they are pushed out in the second week of any month).
There is no change to the monthly security updates (B release – Update Tuesday); these will continue as planned to ensure business continuity and to keep our customers protected and productive.
Preview updates will be released in April 2020 but will be paused after the April release.
Now You: Do you install preview updates on your devices? (via Ask Woody)
Incidentally, this March also ends in a Tuesday, so April’s Patch Tuesday is pushed as further as possible, in the third week of the month.
I hope they get the 20H1 update done.
If you buy “Windows as a service,” you should actually get the service.
This is a good decision. For those silly enough to use Windows 10, they need stability right now, not more OS changes that can cause problems.
I still don’t understand how anyone can use Windows 10 without understanding exactly what data it is transmitting from their machines.
Hundreds of millions of people use Windows 10 and most don’t understand(or frankly care) a whit about what’s phoned home to MS. I “care” some, and take some procative measure to limit what I can, but at the end of the day I don’t lose a minute’s sleep worrying about it. Same goes for Firefox. Vastly bigger worries abound if one is paying attention, Covid-19,climate change,nuclear war,US political system and on and on.
I use a Linux box for certain tasks for my main desktops it’s Win10 and likely will remain so as Linux is still inferior in that realm IMO.
“It starts when your always afraid”
Windows XP and 7 also transmitted data.
@The General + all replies
You are not seriously debating the privacy of Windows, or are you? Windows is shit for privacy, even macOS is miles better than Windows in that regard. Windows 10 was a privacy nightmare from the get go and most of its telemetry was backported to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. None of these operating systems grant you privacy, maybe you are better off if you put in extensive effort to avoid all telemetry patches, but 1) who does that really and 2) you still can’t be sure whether you have covered all of it. Windows XP or Vista might report less data to Microsoft, but nobody uses these anymore due to modern applications not supporting them, as well as for a lack of security support.
If you are indeed serious about privacy you would use a credible Linux distribution, putting the remaining Windows applications you might need into an offline VM in VirtualBox.
I see Iron Heart [Editor: please stay polite] is still trolling with misinformation.
> You are not seriously debating the privacy of Windows, or are you?
No. I wasn’t debating anything. [Editor: please stay polite]
> Windows is shit for privacy.
Only all non-LTSC versions of Windows 10, which is unfortunately what the majority of people now use. All previous versions of Windows are easy to configure for privacy.
> Windows 10 was a privacy nightmare from the get go and most of its telemetry was backported to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
Windows 10 telemetry wasn’t “backported”. That’s false. Some of it was available as an optional installation. Everyone with even basic technical knowledge easily avoided it.
> None of these operating systems grant you privacy, maybe you are better off if you put in extensive effort to avoid all telemetry patches, but 1) who does that really
Everyone who values it.
> and 2) you still can’t be sure whether you have covered all of it.
Completely false. Learn about basic concepts such as packet inspectors, stateful inspectors, software firewalls, and hardware firewalls before posting such nonsense.
> If you are indeed serious about privacy you would use a credible Linux distribution, putting the remaining Windows applications you might need into an offline VM in VirtualBox.
Hey, you got one sorta right! But a broken clock is right twice a day. Note that there are options besides Linux, but it’s a good option, and what I choose to use for systems connected to the Internet.
I see “The General” (General of what, I wonder) is posting misinformation again, so let’s debunk it, shall we?
> Only all non-LTSC versions of Windows 10, which is unfortunately what the majority of people now use.
As if LTSC was better lol, it merely has some more controls you can press, hoping that they do what they claim they do (closed source code).
> Windows 10 telemetry wasn’t “backportedâ€.
Some of its telemetry code was transferred back to older codebases, that is exactly what “backporting” is.
> Everyone with even basic technical knowledge easily avoided it.
That’s a nicer way of saying that 95%++ of the people installed it.
> Everyone who values it.
Those who value it have more sophisticated way of dealing with the issue at hand.
> Completely false.
So, you actually do have access to the closed source Windows codebase? Are you a Microsoft employee?
> Hey, you got one sorta right! But a broken clock is right twice a day.
“Twice a day a true statement” would still numerically outstrip your number of factually correct assertions.
Well, LTSC has none of those problems ;)
Can you send me a copy of LTSC?
I want to try it.
Poor, poor dumb people who buy laptops etc in stores and don’t do a clean install of an outdated, unsupported OS. Luckily, only a tiny minority of computer users is so dumb, and beyond help. Perhaps these are the fishy people who support uncontrolled borders and a ban on cars…?
Oh, and if you want a way to mess up your Windows, look no further than the “critical security fixes,” which are basically a downloadable bluescreen.
@Addy T.
It’s called Linux. It’s not outdated. It’s well supported. Get educated before posting your nonsense.
I’d take Windows 7 over Windows 10 any day. If only Microsoft could take out all the useless modern features they added and make it more like Windows 7. We don’t need settings, the control panel was perfectly fine.