Many folks leave their PCs on overnight, so having all the update heavy lifting take place while asleep is ideal for them. This is for letting Microsoft know which time is best for updates, downloads, and so on. The length of pause required can be altered to your liking in the advanced options (to a maximum of 35 days).Ĭhange active hours. Underneath the Windows 11 status box is a selection of fine tuning options related to Windows updates.

This will explain in more detail why you may not be able to meet system requirements for Windows 11. If your system isn’t compatible with Windows 11, there’ll be a big box letting you know, along with the option to grab the Microsoft PC Health Check App.

You can download and install manually before the updates are grabbed automatically. If there are additional updates soon to be coming down the pipeline, you'll also be able to see what they are, along with some details about the update.

From here, you can also manually check for updates. There, you’ll find a wide range of options and information.Īt the very top, you’ll see if you’re up to date or not along with the time the computer last checked. If you want to check whether they are, type “Windows update” into the search bar from the Start menu, and click into the Updates section. Your updates should in theory be running in the background. If you’re a regular home user, there’s probably not many specific edge-case reasons why you’d want to have updates switched off. Outside of the pause/repeat cycle, most folks would resort to registry edits for longer periods of going without an update. The best you can do is pause updates for up to 35 days, at which point the only way you can pause again is to install new updates. With something like Windows 10, you can’t hold back the update tide forever.

This used to primarily be a problem on older versions of Windows. Unfortunately not all machines are running automatic updates by default, depending on your operating system. If you’re not running the latest version of your OS, it can give cybercriminals the leverage they need to compromise your system. Keeping Windows up to date is an important part of warding off malware, exploits, and other attacks.

How to update malwarebytes manually