Microsoft's Latest Windows 10 Cumulative Update Is Here

By now we've reached the point where the words "Microsoft released a Windows 10 update" have us imagining what fun new technical issues the company's just introduced. We're kinda like Pavlov's dogs, except instead of drooling because someone rang a bell, we cringe because Windows Update notified us. But luckily the latest cumulative update to the Windows 10 May 2019 Update released on July 26 appears to be working as intended.

The KB4505903 update that brought Windows 10 build number to 18362.267 offers a variety of bug fixes and improvements for the operating system. Even the highlights appear to be semi-random: Microsoft listed updates to the way its Edge browser handles PDFs, various behaviors involving Bluetooth, and problems with its display settings. The company also fixed issues with important features like Windows Hello and the Start menu.

Those are just the highlights; the cumulative update released on Friday included many other bug fixes besides. Microsoft said it also "released an update directly to the Windows Update client to improve reliability." More information about the update--including the list of known issues Microsoft is still trying to resolve--can be found on the company's website. The update itself can be installed via Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog.

So why is the apparent stability of this update noteworthy? Because other Windows 10 updates released over the last year have been plagued with technical issues. That's why the Windows 10 October 2018 Update was released, pulled, and then forced through that same cycle until it was finally ready for the public in January. Recent cumulative updates have also caused serious performance issues with popular games or Windows 10 itself.

Some experiments involving the Pavlovian response showed that animals start responding to a stimuli pairing, like the chime of a bell rung when they're given food, after just one trial. We suspect that problems with one Windows 10 update were enough for many people to correlate a Windows Update notification with a bunch of technical issues they'd rather not deal with. Now the question is how long it'll take for that response to go away.