By Don Trauger – Kennett
This article is meant for those residents that are more aggressive with additional control of their
PC’s. Namely, Techies. It concerns a specific area of the computer called Windows Update.
Available since October 1, 2024, Windows 11 Update 24H2 is the next major update. It’s not
just a normal update, it consists of a complete operating system swap. It’s a huge update and it
has major problems.
Defining the characters of update 24H2, 24 means the year and H2 means the second half of
year.
It’s been available for automatic download since October 1, 2024. During that time, it has
accrued at least 7 major faults starting with blue screens and failures to install. To check to see if
you have it: Select Start, Select Settings, Select Windows Update, Select Update history. The
23H2 update precedes it and works fine as it is also updated automatically.
If you find you have 24H2 installed and your computer is working normally, leave it alone.
Don’t uninstall it. That can lead to additional problems. If your computer is acting up with 24H2
installed and the problems are minor, don’t uninstall it. Live with the minor problems and hope
that Microsoft will correct the issues quickly. If you don’t have 24H2, one thing that may help to
delay the download and installation of 24H2 is to turn Off, “Get the latest updates as soon as
they are available” This will delay the download and installation of update 24H2. In fact, for
normal updates the delay may only be a few days but for feature updates, like 24H2, it may be
several weeks or longer.
You can increase the delay even further for all updates by selecting Pause updates. It’s best to
set this up a few days before the 2nd Tuesday of the month. That is when Microsoft starts its next
round of updates. Choose a period typically 4-5 weeks in advance of the next 2nd Tuesday. Don’t
let your delay extend past the next 2nd Tuesday of the month. In my opinion it’s more important
to delay updates and protect yourself from Microsoft’s mistakes like 24H2 than it is to protect
yourself from threats from the Internet. Your maximum delay is restricted to about a month but it
gives Microsoft the time to issue fixes.