Newsletter Archives

• “Give me recommended updates”

  Posted on October 14, 2016 at 14:26 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Good question from SC:

  In Windows Update I don’t understand why I should check  the  box that says “Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates”.

  I see conflicting info on AskWoody.com about  this.

  Please explain.

  I should’ve pointed this out explicitly.

  Microsoft releases patches with one of (at least) three categories: Important, Recommended, Optional. Every patch is identified with one of those three settings.

  Windows Update, on the other hand, only recognizes two categories – Important and Optional – but it also has boxes next to each patch. If you check the box, you get the patch the next time Windows Update runs; if you don’t check the box, you don’t get the patch.

  Checking the box marked “Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates” makes Microsoft-designated Recommended updates show up in your Windows Update list as Important, and the patch is pre-selected for installation.

  If you don’t have that box checked, the patch appears in the Optional section, the name’s italicized, but the installation box is not selected. Thus, the patch won’t be installed on the next run of Windows Update.

  Clear as mud, I know. But the good news is that it won’t make much difference soon.

  If you’re in Group A, you’ll be getting the whole Monthly rollup, which includes both security and non-security patches. Microsoft designates those as “Important.”

  If you’re in Group B, you won’t use Windows Update, so the patches’ categories don’t mean anything. Like points in Who’s Line is it Anyway?

  Windows Patches/Security Recommended updates

• You really don’t need “recommended” patches

  Posted on May 9, 2014 at 11:59 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Just got a really good note from Marty Mung:

  Hi Woody,

  You seem to be getting a lot more inquiries on your website lately, so I have one suggestion that might reduce some of the traffic. Windows Update offers a choice between installing “important” updates and installing “recommended” updates. I think that a lot of the questions you have been receiving recently are coming from folks who have (perhaps unknowingly) selected both options. Although the “recommended” updates are always pre-checked, they are rarely needed. But they seem to generate a lot of anxiety.

  If you were to remind your followers to un-check the Windows Update option that says “Give me recommended updates the same way that I receive important updates”, a lot of the unnecessary questions might well disappear.

  Anyway, thanks for your invaluable website.

  Regards,

  Marty Mung

  Points well taken…

  Uncategorized Recommended updates