14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft published new Windows 10 cumulative updates as part of the Patch Tuesday rollout, but in addition the company has also released the very first delta updates for the operating system via the Update Catalog.
These delta updates are available in both 32- and 64-bit versions and support both Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016.
What are delta updates?
First and foremost, what are delta updates and why are they so important for Windows 10 users?
As you know, cumulative updates are, just like their name suggests, cumulative, meaning that they include all the previously released fixes, which means that installing the latest one always brings a Windows 10 computer fully up to date. When downloading a cumulative update, Windows 10 systems receive absolutely all fixes for that specific version, but only the changes that were implemented from the previous cumulative update are deployed.
The download, however, is getting bigger with every month, as cumulative updates need to include all fixes available for a Windows 10 version.
Delta updates, on the other hand, are cumulative updates that include only the changes developed since the previous cumulative update. In other words, if you install cumulative updates every month, there’s no need to download the full archive anymore, but only the delta update, which is substantially smaller in size and makes deployment faster and easier, especially in large networks.
This month’s delta updates
Living proof for the size advantages brought by delta updates is this month’s release. The x64 cumulative update for Windows 10 released yesterday is no less than 1.1 GB in size, while the delta update for the very first version is substantially lighter at just 700 MB.
And this is one rare case when delta updates are so big, as Microsoft included twice more fixes this month following the delayed February Patch Tuesday.
Without a doubt, cumulative updates will continue to grow in size with every month, so delta updates would come in handy to more and more IT admins. Microsoft hasn’t yet commented on them, but the company is expected to release new ones every month.