Microsoft: Manually updating Windows can make you a test user

In an explanation of monthly Windows updates, Microsoft announces that those who manually check for updates in the last two weeks of the month can receive a preview version for testing purposes.

Microsoft uses different types of Windows updates that should improve quality and security, explains Michael Fortin, vice president of Windows at Microsoft. The B-releases are known, of which the ‘B’ refers to the second week of the month. These are the updates that mainly consist of security patches and therefore appear on the Tuesday known as patch tuesday, or update tuesday.

But there are also C and D releases according to Fortin, which appear in the third and fourth week of the month respectively. “These are preview releases, primarily intended for commercial users and advanced users who ‘check’ for updates,” the vice president said, explaining that this search consists of ‘Check for updates’ on Windows Update. “The intent of these releases is to test the non-security updates that are part of the subsequent Tuesday updates,” he continued.

Microsoft has the Insider program for testing Windows, which users must explicitly sign up for. However, that is mainly intended for testing upcoming Windows versions with associated new functions. In any case, few average users will know that they run the risk of becoming a test user by manually checking for updates. In addition, Microsoft does not report this to Windows Update either. It is not known to what extent the C and D updates have not already been tested by, for example, Insiders.

Fortin also announced that Microsoft is updating more than a billion devices every month with software from Windows XP to Windows 10, based on paid contracts. During peak times, this is about a thousand devices per second.