Windows Optional Updates to Be Paused Indefinitely During Coronavirus Pandemic

Microsoft announced yesterday that starting in May it will focus exclusively on security updates to Windows 10. It doesn't plan to release any optional updates to the operating system in that time, and it's not clear when things will return to normal because the decision was prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

"We have been evaluating the public health situation and we understand this is impacting our customers," Microsoft said in a knowledge base article. In response to these challenges we are prioritizing our focus on security updates." The vendor added that it's "pausing all optional non-security releases" for all supported versions of Windows.

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Microsoft said that "there is no change to the monthly security updates" typically released on Patch Tuesday and that "these will continue as planned to ensure business continuity and to keep our customers protected and productive." (Which optional Windows 10 updates have made rather challenging in recent months.)

Microsoft previously announced that it would continue releasing security updates for Windows 10 version 1709, the Fall Creators Update, until October 13 because of COVID-19. That way, people wouldn't have to worry about updating to a more recent version of Windows 10 on top of everything else going on.

The decision to pause optional updates should have a similar effect. Instead of having to worry about something going wrong with an update, Windows 10 users should just be able to continue using their systems as usual. Provided, of course, that the security updates don't cause problems of their own during this time.