Microsoft updates the Windows Update Experience: You can hit pause now
Keep the patches away for as long as you like
Microsoft has devised a solution to the problem of Windows Updates that break customer devices – users are now able to pause them for as long as they like.
In a post at the end of last week, Aria Hanson, a principal product manager lead at Microsoft, described "improvements to the Windows Update experience" that were rolling out.
"These improvements are the direct result of your feedback."
Unfortunately for Windows admins, it's not acting on feedback such as "please stop releasing buggy updates." Instead, it is acting on feedback around "disruption caused by untimely updates and not enough control over when updates happen."
The pause might be a good thing, especially as the operating system has caught many users out by updating itself at the most inconvenient of times – during a vital presentation, for example. The new functionality allows users to pick a specific day when the updates pause ends – up to 35 days in advance – and, according to Microsoft, a user can "extend the pause end date as many times as you need." In theory, this means that updates can be paused forever.
That's not necessarily a good idea. Updates usually contain important fixes and, as Microsoft wrote, "As always, we recommend taking these updates shortly after they are released to keep your device and your data secure."
Microsoft had already added the option to skip updates during the device setup (OOBE) process (not applicable to managed devices or where an update is needed to make a device functional), and is adding more functionality by always showing the Restart and Shut down options in the Power menu, even if a pending update is available.
Microsoft's announcement is a mixed blessing. More control over updates is a good thing – an inconvenient restart can be less than ideal. However, this should not detract from the fact updates are also important. Rather than just allowing users to pause them, perhaps making them less intrusive and more reliable would be a good idea as well.
Ultimately, the post is yet another mea culpa from Microsoft. It acknowledged that "There are few things more frustrating than sitting down to use your computer, only to find that it requires an update. Worse is when this happens multiple times in a given month."
However, rather than just reducing the number of reboots per month, Microsoft needs to get the figure to zero and restore user trust that an update won't leave their computer hopelessly broken. That's the Windows Update experience the company needs to aim for. ®