Big changes for Windows: This move has been waiting for years

Greater control for users

Building on earlier announcements about improving Windows 11 and addressing the most recent complaints, Microsoft has confirmed that updates will become less intrusive. The main novelty is the possibility of pausing the update for a period of 35 days. After this period expires, users can reactivate the break.

In its announcement, Microsoft states that you can “extend the end date of the break as many times as you need” and that there is “no limit” to the number of re-snoozes. If the user does not extend the break, the system will automatically download and install available updates as before. The move is in response to longstanding criticism of the disruptions caused by forced installations.

Additional improvements for a more comfortable work

In addition to the key change in pausing, Microsoft is also introducing a number of other improvements. The names of the updates for the management programs (drivers) will be more detailed and will contain information about the class of device they refer to, such as screen, sound or battery.

Also, the shutdown menu in Windows 11 will now always offer options to restart or shut down without installing an update. The possibility of skipping updates when setting up a new Windows device was also introduced, which enables faster access to the desktop. Microsoft also announced a “unification of the update experience” to reduce the need for the sixth system restart. Updates will be downloaded in the background, and then wait for a coordinated installation and restart.

A compromise between flexibility and security

Although users welcome the greater control, experts are divided on the security implications. On the one hand, greater flexibility is seen as an attempt to build trust, where users are given responsibility for their own security. The idea is that users who feel in control will be less inclined to completely disable updates, which could lead to better protection in the long run.

On the other hand, there is a legitimate concern that delaying updates will leave systems vulnerable to attack. Security updates often contain key patches for newly discovered vulnerabilities, and delaying them increases the “window” within which malicious software can exploit these weaknesses.

Lessons from the past

The importance of regular updating is best illustrated by major cyber attacks of the past. The global WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017 exploited a vulnerability that Microsoft had patched two months earlier. Organizations and individuals who did not update their systems suffered billions of dollars in damages. Similarly, the destructive NotPetya attack also exploited the same weakness on non-updated systems, permanently destroying data on hundreds of thousands of computers.