Windows 10 Update Cycle
What does the Windows 10 update cycle Really looks like? First, we will talk when can you expect the patches. Then, we will talk about the different types of patches. Lastly, we will talk about what is happening to your computer and what you can expect.
Patching mostly happens on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. This is what is commonly known as Patch Tuesday. This is the time that Microsoft has planned that it will release Patches. I said mostly because there are a few times when this is not the case. When Microsoft patches a high security flaw, they will not wait they will push out the patches as quickly as possible.
There are 4 basic types of patches. There are security patches. These are patches that fix some type of security flaw. Now this is not always fixing something that is wrong. Sometimes it is just changing something to make it more secure. The second type of patch is the fix patch. This is a patch that fixes something. This type of patch tends to be more specific to the hardware and everyone does not need to have them. You only need them if you have the issue that the patch is fixing. The third is the add on patch. These patches add on functionality or update items like drivers. The last type is specific to Windows 10. This is the new Windows release patch. Microsoft releases them twice a year, which has been around March and September. The Windows release patch is like getting a new version of windows, it’s like all the other patches rolled up into one bigger patch.
When your computer gets patched it tries to install as many of them as it can, one after another. It will keep installing until it is tries to update something that is already in use. At which the computer will ask to be rebooted. Upon the computer rebooting it will install the rest of the patch and then loads windows. The computer will then start installing the rest of the patches that are in the queue. The process continues until there is no patches left. At a later date the computer will recheck for new patches and if there is the process repeats itself. This reboot happens in two ways. The first way is that the user shuts down or reboots the computer. The second is that the computer itself will reboot. This system is designed to do this after what is called active hours. If the computer cannot reboot because the owner puts it to sleep, the computer will wait for a period of time and reboot when the machine is on. At this point it does not matter what the user is doing it will just reboot. Some patches have requirements before they can be installed, like having specific hardware or patches installed. Your computer checks every so often for new patches. So it is possible that your computer could check for new patches and find some after the last round of patching because during that cycle a patch requirement was finally fulfilled. Windows release patches happen a little bit differently. It must reboot to finish the install. Instead of taking minutes to install this patch will take between one and two hours, during which windows will not load and it might reboot itself several, times.
