Windows Updates Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Is it safe to completely disable Windows updates?

Posted on April 6, 2025

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Question from Michael: I recently bought a new desktop computer to replace the one I’ve been using for the past six years.

It seems like the updates I’ve been installing on this new machine have all been filled with bugs because almost every time I install them something goes wrong.

The last time it happened my nephew had to completely reinstall Windows for me.

I’d like to completely disable the installation of updates on the new PC. Is it safe to do that? [Read more…]

Opinion: Microsoft can’t seem to stop trashing their own reputation.

Posted on June 23, 2023

A while back I wrote a post explaining why I believe Microsoft’s Windows Update procedure needs a lot of work.

At the time I was hopeful they’d have their act together by now, but I’m afraid that simply isn’t the case.

Virtually every Windows Update they’ve released this year has been buggy and caused problems for a significant percentage of Windows users.

In short, the problem seems to be getting worse instead of better.

[Read more…]

How to avoid installing buggy Windows updates

Posted on February 11, 2023

As you probably know, Microsoft has released a lot of buggy Windows Updates in recent years.

In fact, numerous Windows 10 PCs were rendered either unstable or unable to boot up into Windows just by one recent buggy update.

I still recommend installing critical security updates as soon as possible in order to quickly patch “zero-day” security holes before hackers have a chance to exploit them to break into your system.

However, I no longer recommend installing non-critical updates until Microsoft has had time to squash any bugs that might be in the updates’ code. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why won’t my monitor work at the correct resolution?

Posted on September 16, 2021

Question from Carol: My computer (Dell desktop with Windows 10) installed an update a few days ago and after it rebooted the screen was all out of whack.

Everything looks so ugly now. The text is really big and the icons are scattered all over the place.

My monitor is a 23″ Dell S2316M. It’s always worked at its maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 before but the update changed it to 1024 x 768.

The problem is there doesn’t seem to be any way to change it back.

How can I fix this? [Read more…]

Opinion: The Windows update process needs a lot of work

Posted on May 23, 2021

Regular readers of this blog know that I really like Windows 10.

In my opinion, it’s the best version of Windows that Microsoft has ever produced (all things considered).

But that being said, there are a few major annoyances with Windows 10 that sometimes make me question my overall affection for it, and the same is true for its successor, Windows 11.

One of those annoyances is Microsoft’s clunky ‘Windows Update’ procedure for Windows. [Read more…]