HOW TO CHANGE WINDOWS 10 UPDATE SETTINGS

  It is always important to keep any computer up to date with the latest updates. Updates fix bugs, patch security vulnerabilities and a lot more. The problem is updates are always being released. Install Windows one week, get it up to date and the next week you might have ten updates available to you. Wait a month and you might have 50 more! It all depends on the security vulnerabilities found in the operating system or as Microsoft fixes any bugs in the operating system.

Updates In Windows 10

With the introduction of Windows 10, Microsoft radically changed the way your computer is kept up to date. Updates are now much easier, but it is important to know what is happening in the background, how to control it and how to manually install updates.

Updates have always been classified according to their purpose: security, features, update rollups, etc. Previously, you had the option to defer all of them if you wanted to. With Windows 10, that is not possible anymore. Microsoft has made it mandatory to install security updates. Although this is practiced by many other leading manufacturers, it marks a big change in the way Microsoft delivers updates.

Manual Updates

Let's first cover how to manually check for and install new updates from Microsoft. To do this, type updates in the Cortana search bar and then click on Check for updates.

Once the Windows Update box has popped up, click on the Check for updates button.

Once you do, it will begin searching for any available updates. If it finds any available, it will then give you the option to install. If not, it will only tell you "your device is up to date."

That is all there is to checking for and installing new updates manually.

Customizing Automatic Updates

Next, let's go over how to customize the automatic update installation behavior.

In the same Windows Update box, you'll see an Advanced Options link. Click this and you'll see the few ways that Windows 10 allows you to customize update installation behavior.

The most important setting is front and center giving you an option on how your updates are installed. In previous versions of Windows you were given the option to defer updates but not anymore. Windows 10 only gives you two choices: Automatic and Notify to Schedule Restart. This just pertains to security updates. If you choose Automatic, Windows 10 will auto-reboot your PC, but it is much smarter than it once was. It has never prompted me nor has it ever rebooted when I've been using it. If you prefer more control, you can always choose to Notify to Schedule Restart, which will still install security updates but will give you control as to when the computer restarts to apply the updates.

Finally, the most controversial new update feature of Windows 10 is the peer-to-peer capability. If you click on Choose how updates are delivered, you'll see that Windows 10 can now download updates not only from Microsoft but from PCs on your local network and even PCs over the Internet! This is a way to get updates delivered faster to you and reduce the load on the Windows Update servers. However, this was a controversial decision because not everyone liked the fact that bits from another PC they did not know where finding their way onto their computer.

You can easily disable this if you do not like that feature. By default, Windows 10 is now not set to download updated from PCs on the Internet but still gives you the option.

You can see that Windows 10 drastically changed Windows Updates. In my opinion, it was for the better and will ultimately lead to a more secure environment. It is up to you to decide if you are OK with being more hands-off or not, though.