Windows Update is both a blessing and a curse. Sure, each fix it installs might end up solving whatever issue you might be having with your Windows 11 machine, but the tool itself has been known to be downright obtrusive at times.
This is why Microsoft has been busy rolling out some changes, starting with the latest Windows Insider builds. MS details all of the upcoming Windows Update, err, updates in a new blog post, and top of the list is a section entitled “more control.” That’s a pretty good start.
“Updates are an important part of keeping your PC secure and running smoothly”, Microsoft says. “But at the wrong time, they can also critically break your flow.”
Preach. To rectify Windows 11’s update-misbehaving ways, Microsoft has already begun rolling out a “skip updates” feature to the Out of Box Experience (OOBE), which means you can now bypass updates during installation to get to the desktop quicker.
Our Jess has tested the feature and found it to work exactly as intended. We set up a lot of machines here at PC Gamer (no way), so when we say it’s “neat”, what we really mean is “thank goodness for that.”
(Image credit: Microsoft)
There’s also a new upcoming option to pause updates, with a built-in calendar interface that lets you choose a specific day of the month to update your machine. This calendar goes up to 35 days in the future, but can be endlessly extended for 35-day periods.
The biggest feature on the list, though, is a Power menu change. You’ll soon get options to shut down or restart your machine without being forced to install a pending update, no matter the circumstances.
It’s kind of mind-blowing to me that this is presented as a revolutionary feature. I can’t count the number of times I’ve needed to pack up my laptop in a hurry and mistakenly hit the “update and shutdown” option, rather than just closing the lid, locking me into an update process that could take two minutes, or the best part of half an hour.
(Image credit: Future)
MS also says it’ll classify its update titles with more detail, so you can see whether they’ll apply to specific features on your machine. And lastly, updates will now be grouped together to prevent frequent reboots.
“We know this has been a major pain point for Windows users, so as of today, we’re unifying the update experience to reduce the number of reboots you see every month,” says MS.
“We are starting by coordinating driver, .NET, and firmware updates to align with the monthly quality update, reducing update experience to a single monthly restart.”
Yep, that sounds good. The new updates are part of Microsoft’s solemn vow to improve the Windows 11 experience, after user complaints regarding Microsoft’s focus on AI updates over usability reached a fever pitch.
I’d say it was a pretty good start, but my machine still automatically reboots after being told to update and shut down, despite MS saying the issue was fixed some months ago. Is there somewhere I can raise a ticket, Microsoft, or will the end of this article do?
