14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft announced a series of improvements for Windows Update that should make the whole process less disruptive, with the company tweaking the online and offline phases in order to reduce the impact it has on the system.
Basically, what Microsoft wants to do is cut the time needed to actually install updates and which typically prevents customers from using the computer. This is known as the offline stage and can be easily recognized from the blue background with the installation progress shown on the screen.
The online phase is the one that is displayed in the Settings app and which typically indicates the progress of the update downloading progress.
Reducing the time spent in offline phase
So with this new series of improvements, Microsoft moved some of the processes performed in the offline stage to the online stage, thus reducing the amount of time you get to look at the blue screen. This means that the online phase will obviously take longer, though in the end the process should complete in the same amount of time as it does right now.
“By moving the old offline portions of the upgrade process to the online phase, upgrades will appear to take longer if you’re watching or timing the progress. We didn’t want to sacrifice usability for offline time so the upgrade processes are run at a lower priority to provide for best performance,” Microsoft explains.
Two different processes have been moved from offline to online, namely the backing up of user content and the laying down of new OS files. This means the offline stage will only perform the PC reboot, the migration of drivers and other OS files, the restoration of user content, and the final PC reboot once the update is finalized.
This new system is already available for Windows insiders, and it should be released to everyone with the upcoming Fall Creators Update landing in September for the production ring.