For several years, Microsoft has been releasing security updates for Windows client and server on Update Tuesday (also referred to as “Patch Tuesday”). These updates are made available on the second Tuesday of each month. These monthly security updates are mandatory and are available through Microsoft’s standard channels including Windows Update.
From April 2023, Microsoft will not publish optional non-security preview updates for the fourth week of the month. That’s two weeks after the latest monthly security update and about two weeks before these optional features become part of the next mandatory cumulative update. Microsoft is making this change to optimize the validation of payloads, improve consistency, and enhance the predictability of your testing, update, and upgrade experience.
Apart from the security updates and non-security updates, Microsoft will also release Out-of-band (OOB) update to fix a recently identified issue or vulnerability.
Beginning with Windows 11, version 22H2, new features and enhancements are delivered to the most recently released in-market version of Windows 11 more frequently using servicing technology.
