Few companies currently do not feel the impact of the corona crisis. This is also the case with Microsoft. The company warned that PC segment sales will be lower than expected this year. The current crisis is also causing Microsoft to change its plans with regard to rolling out Windows 10 updates.
From May this year there will be no new updates for the time being and Microsoft wants to fully focus on improving the security of Windows 10.
In a Twitter message, the Redmond company announces that there will be no new, optional updates for the time being.
These are updates for all versions of the operating system that Microsoft still supports, from Windows 10 to Windows Server 2008. Since these are optional updates, many people are unlikely to miss them. In addition, Microsoft’s updates have become somewhat infamous in recent years, due to the many problems that surfaced afterwards.
Microsoft says that the decision to pause optional updates was made because of the corona virus and the impact it has on customers. The company first wants to ensure that Windows 10 devices and services operate as securely as possible, by occasionally providing security updates. The focus on improving safety has not come out of the blue, now that people all over the world are working from home en masse and need a well-functioning and safe system. Microsoft saw a whopping 775% increase in the use of cloud services such as Microsoft Teams, Power BI and Windows Virtual Desktop.
So it is more important than ever for Microsoft that the services work properly. In a blog post the company recently announced that it is actively working with hospitals targeted by hackers. Microsoft wants to ensure that security is optimal to prevent major problems such as a ransomware attack. People who work from home because of the corona virus are also increasingly the target of cyber attacks, according to various studies.
Security updates
The regular updates for Windows 10 are therefore paused for a while, but you can still expect the security updates. This means that Patch Tuesday will also continue to exist. On the second Tuesday of the month, Microsoft will roll out a monthly security update for Windows systems and other Microsoft products through Windows Update.
“No changes are made to the monthly security updates. These will simply be rolled out to ensure that businesses and customers remain well protected, ”Microsoft said.
It is not clear when we can expect regular updates again. Most likely, this moment will not come until the outbreak of the coronavirus is under control and life gets going again. And that is expected to take a while.
