Feb window update question.. DEFER

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I use 1809/Server 2019 for my home computers. Susan’s update sheet say defer. Should I just wait until March is approved?

thanks

Mark

 

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Susan ( @sb ) wrote in her post taking us to MS-DEFCON 4 for the patches released in February …

…If you are a consumer, home user, or business that does not use Windows Server 2022 or any version of on-premises Exchange server, you will be just fine installing the updates at this time.

The above-quoted wording makes it sound to me like you have the green light. The guidance on the Master Patch List for February (updated the same day as her post linked to above) for all of the other versions of Windows, both Server and non-server, bears this out. After carefully rereading her entire post taking us to DEFCON 4, and looking at the Master Patch List, I believe that the advice currently reflected in the Master Patch List as of the date and time of this post is most likely an unintentional oversight on her part.

HOWEVER, only Susan ( @sb ) knows for sure, so it might still be a good idea to wait for a specific response to your question from her.

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69800

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My apologies!  I thought I had updated the sheet to show approve.  I’ll do so tonight.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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69800

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thanks

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Hello, 69800. I strongly agree with you that the LTSB / LTSC versions of Windows 10 are the only versions worth using. ALL other versions of 10 have issues that you have pointed out. And the less we talk about Windows 11 the better.

Like you, my main computer is now on Windows 10 1809 LTSC and Windows Server 2019 (with Windows 7 on a second SSD), having been on Windows 8.1 and actively resisted Windows 10 for the past few years. I finally took the time to move to LTSC because of my desire to make use of a newly bought RTX 3060 Ti, which Nvidia has chosen to support on Windows 10 (1803 and later) and Windows 7, but not on Windows 8.1 (A decision apparently based on “marketshare” and “popularity”, otherwise why support 7 but not the newer 8.1?).

(And before anyone asked, I actually did try to install the Nvidia drivers for Windows 7 on 8.1 but the installation program told me the OS was not supported. Apparently there is a block on the driver when it detected an RTX 30xx card on Windows 8.1. The same driver installation worked on 8.1 when an older card like my previous GTX 1070 Ti was in the system.).

I believe Susan’s recommendations are mostly about the current versions of Windows 10 and 11 (21H2 / 22H2 Home / Pro) and I don’t think Susan offered any suggestion about 1809 LTSC specifically (After all, how many of her clients actually use it on their systems contrary to Microsoft’s “recommendation”?). Susan usually advises to wait until about the end of the month to install patches, and if you want to patch every month you may as well follow this simple advice.

I will make my own patching decisions with this OS based on my previous experiences and some common sense. Personally, my own experience (since January 2018 when Meltdown / Spectre first appeared) told me that there is no need to patch every month unless there are urgent security issues, and I need more time to see whether the patches would cause significant problems. I completely disabled Windows Update using a group policy setting (meaning it will not even prompt me about any available updates) and I can continue to use the OS without worrying about it suddenly deciding to install any updates without my permission. My own decision is that I will only patch my Windows systems about once every 4 months. I have set up my LTSC / 2019 systems on December 2022 patch level, and since as far as I can see there are currently no urgent security issues, I will not patch them again until at least April.

Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

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