A complaint about Windows It’s near the top of everyone’s list: updates. There are too many updates. They take too long to install. Sometimes they fail in ways that cause additional problems. And always appear at the most inopportune moment
In most cases, these updates require you to restart your computer, which happens automatically. You may lose unsaved work or find yourself in a situation where the process slows down while you wait for the update to finish and return your computer to you so you can join a morning workout. Zoom Meeting that you are already late.
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However, it doesn’t have to be this way. I recommend that you set your own update schedule and tell Microsoft to postpone it until a day you prefer. To start, make sure you’ve installed all available updates (and restarted your computer, if necessary). Then, follow the steps below.
How to set up a quick fix for your Windows Update
Microsoft releases monthly security updates for Windows on the second Tuesday of every month (popularly known as Patch Tuesday). Under default Windows settings, these updates are typically downloaded and installed within 24 hours of their release on Patch Tuesday.
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To tell Windows that you want to wait, go to Settings > Windows Update. Click the arrow to the right of the “Pause updates” menu, then choose “Pause for 5 weeks.” (This built-in option is available in all editions of Windows.)
If you choose the five-week pause option, you can manage update tasks on your own monthly schedule.
Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
Don’t worry, you’re not going to pause updates for that long, but this setting ensures that Windows It doesn’t try to download or install any updates until you ask it to. And don’t think you can wait forever either. Once those five weeks are up, Windows Update says “Time’s up!” and installs all available updates to ensure your safety.
Let’s say you want to wait at least two weeks after Patch Tuesday, so that other people can have issues with an update instead of experiencing those glitches yourself. How clever! You’ll do all your update activity on the fourth Tuesday of the month.
In the calendar app you use, set up a recurring monthly event for the fourth Tuesday of every month. The illustration (below) shows what this event looks like in Google Calendar.
Save that reminder and get back to work, safe in the knowledge that you won’t be disturbed until the fourth Tuesday of every month. When that day comes and you see the reminder, you’ll quickly check to see if there are any known issues with the latest updates. Then, wait for a convenient time on that day, or at most a day or two later, and perform that month’s maintenance tasks.
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Go to Settings > Windows Update, click “Resume Updates” and install all available updates. Restart your computer and then check Windows Update once more to make sure there are no pending updates to be installed. Once that process is complete, use the “Pause updates for 5 weeks” menu option to start the countdown again.
Use your preferred calendar service to create a recurring reminder to perform update tasks.
Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
Your only responsibility each month is to pay attention when that reminder goes off and take care of any pending updates right away. You can hit the snooze button once or twice, but don’t wait too long.
If you are working with a device that is running Windows Pro and you don’t have any issues with Group Policy settings, you can set things up so that those monthly quality updates are automatically postponed. But that approach isn’t necessary and the monthly calendar reminder is all you really need.
And it’s worth adjusting one last setting to make sure you get a fair warning before an update restart is scheduled, as shown in the illustration below. Go to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options, and then turn on the “Notify me when a restart is required to finish the update” switch, as shown below.
Enable this option to receive a warning when updates require a reboot.
Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
This step should prevent any unpleasant surprises. For added security, use the option just below that switch to define what Windows calls your Active Hours, a daily window of up to 18 hours during which Windows won’t restart to install updates.