Future Windows update releases may come slower than expected

Redmond officials announced changes in schedule.

by Rafly Gilang

Rafly is a journalist with growing experience, ranging from technology, business, social, and culture. A holder of the Romanian government scholarship, his writing has been published in several… read more

Updated on March 22, 2023

Effective from April 2023, optional non-security monthly updates for Windows 10 and Windows 11 are coming a little later than before.

As announced by Microsoft’s senior director Chris Morrissey in a blog post, those updates are coming to users on the fourth week of the month instead of the usual third.

“We have found this to be the optimal time for us to publish and for you to consume these updates. That’s two weeks after your latest monthly security update and about two weeks before you’ll see these features become part of the next mandatory cumulative update.”

What do these updates mean?

However, it doesn’t always mean that Microsoft is going to neglect users’ PCs.

To better understand what this means, Redmond officials use terms like “B release” to refer to the official ‘Patch Tuesday’ that bears updates and fixes on quality, security, and LCU interchangeably. 

This won’t be what Microsoft has pushed, which is the optional non-security preview (C and D updates). So, features like Search highlights or anything else that doesn’t pose any potential security issue are released ahead of the planned security update for the month after. 

“We’re excited for this improvement as it is meant to optimize the validation of payloads, improve consistency, and enhance the predictability of your testing, update, and upgrade experience.”

In other news, Microsoft is also reportedly working on a toggle to let users prioritize their PCs once a new update arrives. 

We’ve reported that the feature was spotted on Build 25314 from Canary, which is hidden in the Settings app. The toggle says Get the latest updates as soon as they’re ready for your PC. Prioritize your PC to receive the latest updates as they roll out.

Do you think this is a good or bad move by Microsoft? Let us know in the comments!