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Windows 10 Will No Longer Auto Install Feature Updates Twice a Year (windowscentral.com)
Microsoft has announced that starting with the Windows 10 May 2019 Update, which will hit general availability late next month, users will no longer be forced to install new Windows 10 feature updates as they become available. From a report: This comes after feedback from users who have had countless issues with updates breaking programs, losing files, and installing at inconvenient times. Microsoft has been working hard to improve Windows Update, and while the system is better than it was at launch in 2015, it's still not perfect. Now, users will have the option to not have to deal with feature updates when they are released.
What Microsoft is doing here is splitting Windows Update in two. The normal "check for updates" button will now only function for security and monthly patches. Feature updates now get their own area in Windows Update where the user can initiate the download and install process for the latest feature update available. If the user doesn't want to initiate that process, they don't have to. The user will be alerted that a new feature update is available every now and then, but at no point will the user be forced to install that update, as long as the version of Windows 10 they're currently running is still in support.
What Microsoft is doing here is splitting Windows Update in two. The normal "check for updates" button will now only function for security and monthly patches. Feature updates now get their own area in Windows Update where the user can initiate the download and install process for the latest feature update available. If the user doesn't want to initiate that process, they don't have to. The user will be alerted that a new feature update is available every now and then, but at no point will the user be forced to install that update, as long as the version of Windows 10 they're currently running is still in support.
So they'll more quickly remove support for older versions to force updates?
Thank fuckin' christ already, good god.
Brav-fucking-o
You don't get a thank you thou.
You still deserve a kick in the privates for even doing the auto install in the first place. And Win 10 in general.
http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
I kinda enjoyed my bi-annual fisting from Microsoft.
I'll not be forced to use race condition in windows register protection to prevent these updates anymore ;)
It seems like it’s been a cat and mouse game with MS on Windows. MS has been trying to force “features” on their customers while the customers have been pushing back that they didn’t want these features especially since it seemed they were beta-testing them for MS.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
I tried out Linux because I didn't want to upgrade to 10, because of how pushy it was with updates (and also all the spying).
Now that I have given Linux a real try, I like it better. Microsoft has lost me as a customer.
I also noticed that the summary said "The user will be alerted that a new feature update is available every now and then,"
Uh-huh. They don't force, they spam and annoy until you comply. No thanks.
.... windows will stop slowing down you system or causing annoying delays after it has informed you, or not, that an update is available?
I mean, I would understand such a move if this was some newcomer that had been on the market for a year or so and was trying things out. But MS can still not do any high-quality engineering despite all the decades of experience and the shitload of money they have. Why again is their stuff popular and not an obscure 3rd rate-choice as would deserve to be on merit?
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
People are already using in their millions illegally, just make a legal version for home use already.
The user will be alerted that a new feature update is available every now and then, but at no point will the user be forced to install that update, as long as the version of Windows 10 they're currently running is still in support.
Well they support new versions for 18 months. In practice this means you can skip one update since you'd have to from last day of support to a brand new version to skip two. When we know how many are/were perfectly happy with 10 year old XP/Win7 releases it's Microsoft moving ten steps forward and one step back. There's nothing so drastically changing about an OS these days that you need new versions every year.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Some people take a lot of abuse before looking around for something better.
This is obviously step one to charging for new features. Next step will probably be to split out some very special feature improvements while continuing to give the bulk for free.
I'm not a total MS fan and ran Linux on my main machine from 2015-2018, but I do like the near zero-hassle updates and feature installations. It is a 32GB, i7 quad-core with SSD laptop that has aged well since purchase in 2014, but has Optimus mobile graphics (NVidia / Intel combo with Intel driving the display) which has very bad Linux support. I switched back to booting the Windows partition most of the time to avoid the constant hassles of straightening out update problems which often meant editing files from the terminal mode when the graphics subsystem failed.
I guess nothing is really free.
I expect the releases will still have a end of support schedule. But at least you won't get a buggy release if you don't want it. As long as I am not nagged to do it this is a welcome move by Microsoft.
"... allow the user FULL control..."
Joke: You don't understand Microsoft. Microsoft an ABUSE company, not a software company. "Windows 10 Will No Longer Auto Install Feature Updates Twice a Year" only means they have found other abuses they like better, like forced advertising.
My opinion, shared by many others.
Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC."
The whole problem is the lack of modularity.
Windows should not include a 3D paint program. It should be available in the Windows Store.
They should be able to upgrade the control panel without upgrading Internet Explorer.
so windows users can finally stick to security updates only?
Our business is lagging behind on Windows 10 feature updates. They have to be initiated manually and take hours to install for each PC, which makes it very difficult to schedule with the users, especially since most of them have portables.
As a result, a lot of recent software cannot run on any PC with first or second version of Windows 10, due to Microsoft not supporting .NET Framework 4.7 on them.
Also the latest version of Windows 10 (1809) broke unattended installs where a batch file calls exe programs residing on a server location, which is typical for our large CAD software deployments. So we cannot run unattended software installs on any PC with 1809 on it.
In the past, huge negative headlines would scream about thousands of companies all suffering down time at the same time.
Now, since it is user controlled, those big headlines are side tracked, even if the updated and Brick the PC, it will happen in different times at different places and off load some of the blame from Microsoft.
Update pathways in general seem like a backdoor security risk.
All some one needs to do is spoof the microsoft updater and get installer to insert code, with all the blessings of an 'official update' .
To the end user they will see no difference.
Lock it all down, harden your systems, and upgrade all defenses both physical and digital.
Since feature updates seem to be effectively 10.xxx upgrades, I suspect at some point everyone has to click that feature update button to stay supported. Just a guess, but we see the same thing with other OS/Software worlds. Of course, I suppose a person could go un-patched and happily at risk.
On the other hand, twice now the feature update has messed up my wife's machine, forcing me to either rebuild or back-out. At least on the last update I was able to recover from a prior point in time.
She is so frustrated she's ready to go Apple. And honestly, I don't blame her.
So this feature of optionally delaying feature updates is welcome.
I was eyeing the door when they started molesting Win 7 users. Created a parallel Linux install with my data on a server till I worked out learning what I needed to know. When the steaming pile that is Win 10 hit I was gone. The only thing I miss about Windows is xplorer2. Other than for gaming Microsoft is dead to me. I will never trust them or use them for my personal or business use again.
I already switched to Linux. To be very clear, I did not switch because I liked Linux. Luckily for Microsoft, most of their customers are more tolerant of abuse than I am.
Perhaps it matters less anyway as more people move to Android, iOS, and Chrome OS.
other evil? Get rid of the store, TELL US WHATS IN THE UPDATES?, STOP SPYING, NO STORE, NO NEED TO ID YOURSELF FOR STUPID THINGS LIKE ACTIVATING OFFICE! Did I mention stop spying? Stop forcing unwanted apps down peoples throat?
And Microsoft is going to off virtual desktop subscriptions? WOW, that's a spying wet dream!
So Microsoft reduces their own costs by forcing everyone to keep up with their treadmill, while increasing the costs of everyone else who has to continuously adapt to the constant changes.
Why not just leave things alone?
Windows 7 had a start menu. Windows 8 did away with the start menu because Microsoft claimed that their extensive usability testing showed that users don't use the start menu much anyway. Quickly after Windows 8 was released, 8.1 brought back a start button, and later Windows 10 brought back the start menu.
Windows 7 let users control when and if to install updates. Windows 8, 8.1, and especially Windows 10 forced updates upon users and initially did not let users postpone updates. Now, after users complained, Microsoft is backtracking somewhat by allowing Windows 10 users to have control over whether and when feature updates get installed.
How exactly does Microsoft get its pre-ship testing so very wrong again and again? Microsoft obviously does not care about customer concerns until there is a tipping point. Why can't Microsoft stop making these stupid decisions in the first place?
Microsoft commonly does this. For several years they'll do the wrong thing by their customers with their head stuck in the sand stubbornly. Then, they'll realize their mistake and listen to customers and fix the issue and then forever that specific problem will stop being an issue. It is one of the reasons actually that people like Windows, because most of the things that bother them eventually are sorted out and as a whole the platform is enjoyable. But, the problem is, MS gets bored or naughty and learns to do something ignorant and different again that upsets their customer base and then refuses to see that. Eventually they come around, but not before it starts to lose significant mindshare. It is part of their culture and always has been. Sometimes they're right about stuff and are right to ignore customers, and I think that's where the stubbornness comes from and an assumption that they know what they're doing at all times.
We dont use Windows any more. Its all FreeBSD and Linux.
I update Windows regularly, but I don't want any automatic updates. I don't want something to kick in while the computer is running a days long process.
This sounds like there are still updates that will install by "surprise", just not the large updates.
What was so wrong with the Windows 7 option "Don't install anything until I say so."?
I really need to try out the registry edits that say they bring this option back to Windows 10 ( Pro, not Home )
You just have to run a SOCKS proxy or manual VPN firewalled to only the default user, not SYSTEM, tunneled through a gateway system in order to access the internet. I have am doing this on non-Windows systems because every piece of hardware and software today is untrustworthy, even virtualization layers (which leak the host CPU identity to virtualized guests if running accelerated.) The only way to provide any semblance of anonymity online is secondhand hardware bought in person, and network access that doesn't identify with your local IP address.
You all should be using Windows 10 LTSB. Sorry, but the "free" crap you get from micro$oft will always be garbage.
Yes it will update every week end
I'm guessing there isn't many people out there that modified their registry to prevent automatic updates? I've done it, and only install the updates that I want... It's extremely nice not to be forced to run updates
You are on an enterprise version of Windows, in which case it is the enterprise administrator that is given almost full control, not the user.
Oh, you are not an enterprise administrator controlling a vast network of PCs, but just a normal user? No, you haven't got control yet. And you may never have control.
2019- Microsoft is still figuring it out