Microsoft in rare show of common sense over Windows Update

[steven36]

FLYING PIG KLAXON!

 

Next stop, return of Clippy?

 

MICROSOFT HAS CONFIRMED it's working on a new feature it just thought of, and nobody else, honestly.

 

Starting in the spring 2020 (20H1) update to Windows 10, Microsoft will begin to split those nasty updates we always moan about to separate crucial security updates from features, hidden telemetry tools and nagware.

 

No, you're not going senile. This is exactly how things were before the Windows 10/Nadella era - but somehow, Microsoft only just thought of it.

 

Ever since the disastrous Build 1809 of Windows last year, not only has there been growing pressure to stop the whole ‘one update does it all' policy. Despite a long incubation for the most recent build, designed to let the Insiders find all the issues before the public, subsequent patches containing a mixture of smaller updates, some necessary, others not, have been a source of ongoing frustration.

 

Most recently, a patch designed to fix a borked patch actually made things even borkier, breaking the search bar, the start menu and in some cases WiFi on users machines.

 

The new-old approach is already testing with the insiders. In a recent blog post, Microsoft explained: "As some Insiders have noticed, we're working on making it easier for you to see all optional updates (including drivers, feature updates, and monthly non-security quality updates) in one place. Once optional updates are detected, they will be listed in a new page under Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View optional updates.

 

"For drivers, you no longer need to browse Device Manager for a specific device to update. Windows Update will automatically keep your drivers up-to-date, same as before, but if you're having a problem one of those optional drivers might help."

 

Oh, my days, Microsoft. Thank f*** for that. We'd love to say "it was INQ wot won it" but the truth is the vast majority of our colleagues in the media and the user base of Windows have been saying with one voice that the way Windows Update was being managed was shockingly bad, and we can only hope this is the first step on the road to recovery.

 

Source

[Karlston]

A good start, but it’s taken a little over four years for Microsoft to finally concede one of the Windows 10 update faults that many users and tech journos have been telling them about for almost as long.

 

Let’s hope they are listening to the other complaints too, but their historical stubbornness to accept fault and change means I’m not holding my breath.