End of monthly updates, non-security, for Windows

Starting in May, Microsoft plans to stop shipping all non-security updates for Windows. The publisher is taking another step in suspending non-essential revisions to its operating system and other important products. Optional updates, which Microsoft calls Windows C and D updates, are delivered on the third and fourth weeks of each month, respectively. “After evaluation, we understand that the current health situation is impacting our customers,” Microsoft said, referring to another message posted March 24 to the Windows 10 Message Center. “In response to this challenge, we decided to focus on security updates as a priority. These security updates, called B-updates, released on the second Tuesday of each month, are better known as “Patch Tuesday” (Microsoft prefers to call them “Update Tuesday”). Stopping C and D updates doesn’t mean the company is going to ease off on patches, though. “Monthly security updates are not affected. They will be delivered as planned to ensure business continuity and to keep our customers protected and productive.

Updates C and D are primarily used to test non-security fixes before being officially released the following month with the Patch Tuesday Global Cumulative Update. Microsoft believes that not all Windows client systems should receive these C and D updates. According to the publisher, update D, which it sends out two weeks after one Patch Tuesday and two weeks before the next, should serve to “…test the updates included in the release and provide feedback, in order to reduce the amount of testing required after the Patch Tuesday update and, therefore, improve our ability to resolve issues before they occur.” produce”. Since these C and D updates are optional, some customers simply ignore them. The last D update was delivered this Tuesday for Windows 10 1903 and 10 1909 versions. Windows 10 C updates are relatively rare. So in the five months since the release of Windows 10 1909, Microsoft delivered three D updates, but no C updates.

A break but not before May

The cessation of C and D updates from May is the latest measure taken by Microsoft to limit updates to security patches and not to increase the task of IT services, at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupts business activity and business processes. In early March, the publisher extended support for Windows 10 1709 by six months for Windows 10 Enterprise and Education customers and the Redmond company restricted the delivery of feature updates for its Edge browser. Microsoft hasn’t said why it’s waiting until May to suspend non-security updates to Windows, instead of immediately enforcing the measure and blocking the next scheduled C and D updates. on April 21 and 28 respectively.