Microsft may finally be paying heed to the user uproar over the company’s policy of automatically pushing updates on the Home edition of Window 10. The Redmond based software and cloud service giant will at long last bring the option to pause Windows updates on Windows 10 Home. Up until now, the defer update feature was only reserved for the Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Education, and Windows 10 Enterprise versions. Here is what you need to know about the latest development concerning delaying updates on Windows 10 Home.
Ever since the launch of Windows 10 back in 2015, one constant request many users have made pertains to giving them the control over the installation of the latest Windows updates. Microsoft introduced a strict policy of automatic update roll-out on Windows 10 Home in order to avoid fragmentation problems that have plagued Android devices for years now. These monthly updates are meant to shield Windows 10 devices against advanced threats to user data and privacy.
While the reasoning behind pushing automatic updates may make sense, but, as is the case with anything software related, it could raise compatibility problems coupled with minor bugs and errors issues, if not major performance issues. Moreover, this unfriendly approach takes control out of user’s hands leaving them sulking in a state of perpetual dread out of the fear of upcoming updates dismantling their machines. Microsoft could effectively tackle this scenario by offering the control to block these updates on a temporary basis at the very least.
We have already explained steps to downgrade Windows 10 if the latest flight is causing havoc. Of course, you can also remove pending updates or uninstall an update from your device. A wait and see approach for users is adviced, and we urge you to exercise extreme caution in light of the recent Windows 10 Version 1809 update fiasco. But these are methods aren’t officially recommended, which could result in your device missing out on critical security patches.
But what if there is a way to avoid all the hassle and simply pause the update to prepare your device for the next stable enough iteration and ensure everything goes smoothly during the update process?
As mentioned earlier that although Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise and Education editions come with the built-in ability to pause updates, these settings have remained absent from the Windows 10 Home. Well, until now…
Windows 10 Home Users Can Now Delay Updates For Up To A Week
The next major Window 10 April 2018 Update (19H1) might feature the control that enables Windows 10 Home users to delay updates. Currently, available only to registered testers in the Windows Insider program, the upcoming Windows 10 April update, codenamed 19H1, is expected to bring this setting. Thurrot (paywall) is the first one to spot the new settings in Windows Update.
Related read: Fix Windows 10 Version 1809 Update Install Stuck Issue
To access Windows 10 Defer update feature in the Home Edition, navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and here you will see a new option: “Pause Updates for 7 days.” For now, this settings is only accessible to those who are registered to the Windows 10 April 2019 Version 19H1 Insider Preview Build Program.
When this setting is enabled, Windows 10 Home won’t install new updates straight away. You can choose to resume updates at a later point in time when you have made all the necessary arrangements to install the update, such as data backup, or Windows will resume the installation itself after a span of seven days (1 week).
If the testing phase is successful, this setting should be available to all Home edition users with the next Windows 10 2019 update, due in April. On the face of it, the ability to pause the update lasts just seven days but it should afford users ample time to back up important data and files or wait until their spare time to run setup and handle potential issues that might surface.
7 days may not seem enough time to some users of Windows 10 Home, let’s keep it in mind that Microsoft aims to prevent annoying update issues similar to the ones that have become a constant feature on the Android platform and to foolproof the security of the maximum number of Windows machines. Having said that, it would be a welcoming gesture if the Windows maker places some trust in its users by enabling them to defer or skip updates based on their own reasons, especially since the recent round of Windows 10 update have been far from stable.
