Windows Update Manager 0.9a

[chants]

There is a new strange situation where the "Check for Updates" button now no longer does a passive check. But it actively includes you to test week 3, week 4 beta updates which are not released on the normal monthly "Patch Tuesday" cycle. There is a bunch of terminology too around this but the theory is they can beta test using users who are so excited about updates that they actually click the button while most users probably don't ever go there.

Anyway a tool like this will become more and more useful into the future. I had used WSUS Offline Update for a while to try to prevent the big updates from being downloaded separately on multiple machines. Though in the days of internet being more or less limitless, a bigger concern is stability.

See the news article:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/windows10-check-for-updates/

referencing Microsoft's own blog post on the issue:

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2018/12/10/windows-monthly-security-and-quality-updates-overview/#LcV9lITe3UqkOpIC.97

And so this is basically new eye opening discussion:

But now Microsoft has shared a blog post in which they argue that people who click the Check for updates button are in fact “advanced users” who are “seeking updates.” Therefore, if you click the button, your system will be updated to the latest optional release called “C” or “D” release. These releases are a kind of preview of the next regular monthly release, known as the “B” release, which is the general version which includes security and non-security fixes.
The problem is that these C and D releases are still essentially beta code which is being offered for preview rather than being intended for widespread use. Microsoft says that the releases are “validated, production-quality optional releases,” but also that they are intended “primarily for commercial customers and advanced users ‘seeking’ updates.” This distinction is not made clear in the updates section of Windows, and you can imagine plenty of regular people clicking the Check for updates button in their system because they think it’s good security practice, without realizing that they have essentially opted into Windows beta testing.
Microsoft has had problems with their patches in the past, such as a patch for Surface Book 2 devices that caused a blue screen of death error. As PCWorld points out, the timing of this patch in the last week of November means that it would have been issued to users who hit the Check for updates button. So Windows users beware: stay away from the Check for updates button unless you know what you’re doing.

[binarylaw]

Originally Posted by chants

There is a new strange situation where the "Check for Updates" button now no longer does a passive check. But it actively includes you to test week 3, week 4 beta updates which are not released on the normal monthly "Patch Tuesday" cycle. There is a bunch of terminology too around this but the theory is they can beta test using users who are so excited about updates that they actually click the button while most users probably don't ever go there.

Anyway a tool like this will become more and more useful into the future. I had used WSUS Offline Update for a while to try to prevent the big updates from being downloaded separately on multiple machines. Though in the days of internet being more or less limitless, a bigger concern is stability.

See the news article: referencing Microsoft's own blog post on the issue:

And so this is basically new eye opening discussion:

I had no idea about this. Not that I do it myself, of course. I go the other direction and had to finally just disable Windows Update services altogether, so out of control has Microsoft + Windows 10 gotten.

But hearing this about the "beta opt-in" because you clicked check... enrages me. Microsoft needs some worthy competition yesterday. I really wish Linux would pull its pants up and catch up finally.