Configuring basic Windows update options - Windows Tutorial

- [Joli] Windows Update is a service that provides important updates to Microsoft operating systems, protects against malware and security exploits, enhances Windows components, and improves functionality. Windows Update has been available to users in control panels since Windows Vista. In Windows 11, it's available from settings. You can get to settings by clicking start and settings. From here, I'll click Windows Update. When you open Windows Update, you might see the option to check for updates. You may be ready to download or install updates and you might see that the computer is up-to-date. Mine shows I have an update ready, pending restart. While checking for updates is often an option, there's no need to manually check if you've left the default options configured here. Microsoft releases necessary security updates regularly, and Windows gets them automatically. I'm showing you this so you can see the other options as well. For instance, you can pause updates. You can review the computer's update history, view advanced options, and explore the Windows Insider Program here too. Let's open advanced options. Here you can review and change how updates are installed, among other things. You can opt to receive updates for other Microsoft products here. You can opt to download updates over metered connections, and you can be notified when the restart is required, among other things. You can also set the active hours for updating here, and you can set your own hours from the dropdown. Scroll down a little and look at delivery optimization. This feature creates a local cash of updates and shares those with other PCs on your network. You can allow downloads here. If you're concerned about bandwidth, have an unreliable or unlimited internet connection, or have a lot of computers on your home network, you should enable this setting. Click back to advanced options. Let's take a look at what we haven't covered. Notice you can access recovery options, as well as restart apps, should problems arise after an update. And you can review any update policies applied to your computer by a network administrator. If don't see any policies, and would like to assign them, you can assign the options in the local group policy editor. To do this, you must be running Windows 11 Enterprise or Professional. I'd like to show you those settings before we move on. I'll open the local group policy editor by typing gpedit.msc in the search window. And I'll click edit group policy. The local group policy editor allows you to configure rules for both computers and users. Thus, there are two areas to consider here, computer configuration and user configuration. Because I want to apply changes to the computer, I'll expand computer configuration, administrative templates, Windows components, and scroll down to the bottom. And I'll click Windows Update. Let's opt here to manage the end user experience. I'll double click to show you the options. You could, for one, explicitly allow updates to be downloaded over metered connections. This would help keep your mobile computers updated, even when there's no wifi. You can remove the option to pause as well. You can also turn off automatic restart and set your own active hours, among other things. When you have time, look around in the local group policy editor and explore these options. There are other options in the other folders as well. When you're ready, close all of your open windows and continue on.