When to update & when not to update

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After reading ‘A Win10 quide for Windows Update Settings” I find I am now really confused as to when to allow my laptop to update. I am running Win 10 version 1909 Home Edition and I see this site is still at MS-DEFCON 2. My pause updates runs out on July 8 and I know that patch Tuesday is on July 14, so when do I let the June updates install? I go through this not knowing when to let the updates install every month and every time I think I understand, another article surfaces which seems to contradict what I thought I understood. Could someone please tell me when I should pause the updates and when I should let the updates install, so I can be confident in what I am doing. I know that with Microsoft nothing is ever written in stone, but I don’t want to go through this not knowing every month. I wish I was more computer wise than I am, but I’m not. I would love to become a Plus Member, but my husband and I live on a fixed income (his SS only). That does not leave much, if anything for extras. I am not complaining, because we trust God to take care of our needs and He does. But extras are above needs. Maybe sometime down the road this will be possible, but not at the present time. Anyhow, life and all its challenges go on (and Microsoft is certainly one of those challenges). I would greatly appreciate any help anybody could give me. Thank you.

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Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday each month. If you patch immediately afterward, you may run into problems if there are buggy patches. So we encourage people to wait a while and see if the early patchers run into trouble. That is what DEFCON is about. DEFCON-1 or 2 means to wait, DEFCON-3 or above – follow Woody’s instructions for safe patching.
There is an explanation of DEFCON – in the top menubar under “MS-DEFCON Syatem.”

So, update when Woody changes the DEFCON to 3 or above and follow the instructions he publishes on the Blog and linked to in ComputerWorld.
Now, once you have updated according to DEFCON, there won’t be any more Patches till Patch Tuesday. Wait till the day before Patch Tuesday and set the maximum Pause (7 days/click, max of 5 clicks = 35 days). That will hold off updates till the next month.
But you don’t have to wait till the Pause ends. If DEFCON-3 comes around, and you want to patch, all you have to do is “Resume updates,” and Windows Update will download and install the updates.
Then you wait again till right before Patch Tues to do it again.

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Why have I never thought of waiting till the day before Patch Tuesday to Pause updates? I’m so fed up with my Pause running out a few days early, because I’ve been Pausing right after I’ve updated.  The solution was too simple to register on me till now! Thanks.

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Elly

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July started on a Wednesday this year, so the second Tuesday isn’t until the 14th…

I know it feels like you might have missed updating, but you haven’t.

I’d guess that Woody will change the DEFCON number for this next weekend, but it always depends upon what the problems are and if there are solutions.

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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I would add this suggestion, something I have always kept in mind as an option:

Occasionally, certainly not always, I would apply patches a few days AFTER the DEFCON already had gone green. Why? Because, occasionally, by the time DEFCON goes green, some problems have not yet been mentioned here, or they might have been, by a few people, but not followed up. Or nobody new about those problems, yet.

When the DEFCON goes green, many will start patching, then any overlooked problems are likely to emerge in the form of cries of anguish proffered by the injured, loud and clearly — and on hearing that one might save oneself some trouble by waiting even longer to do the patching.

However, there are cases when, for example, some serious malware is out and about and keen on visiting unpatched users, so the above advice is not for every single case. Discretion, as with anything important, must be observed.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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wavy

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If we haven’t seen problems by the time Woody says it’s OK, then it’s a very rare problem and probably not an issue.

Backup before patching and you will always have a fallback.

cheers, Paul

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woody

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[DriftyDonN]

Search and read # #2260305

Or just disconnect PC from internet(IMPORTANT!)  then click resume updates. You will get an error message, re: no internet connection or some such Click ok then take a look and you will see you can start pause updates from the beginning- 35 more days! Dont forget to reconnect internet after resetting number of pause days. If you have access to advanced settings, you can choose a date. I take Woody’s advice about when to update f(for the most part) but if something doesn’t appear to have been fixed by msft, you can wait and do this again to reset the days to pause.

Be safe and depend on Father!

 

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by DriftyDonN.

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