14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s April 2019 Patch Tuesday also includes monthly rollups for Windows 7 and 8.1, which are technically cumulative updates that come with both security and non-security fixes.
Windows 7 users are being provided with monthly rollup KB4493472 and security-only update KB4493448.
While you can check out the change logs of both updates in the box after the jump, it’s worth noting that the monthly rollup for Windows 7 introduces additional mitigations against the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities discovered in early 2018.
“Provides protections against Spectre Variant 2 (CVE-2017-5715) and Meltdown (CVE-2017-5754) for VIA-based computers. These protections are enabled by default for the Windows Client, but disabled by default for Windows Server. For Windows Client (IT Pro) guidance, follow the instructions in KB4073119. For Windows Server guidance, follow the instructions in KB4072698. Use these guidance documents to enable or disable these mitigations for VIA-based computers,” Microsoft explains.
There are also the typical security updates aimed at vulnerabilities in the Windows kernel, the Graphics Component, and other operating system files.
Windows 8.1 improvements
On Windows 8.1, Microsoft released monthly rollup KB4493446 and security-only update KB4493467.
The highlight in the changelogs is the same Meltdown and Spectre Variant 2 mitigation, but Windows 8.1 users are also provided with additional fixes for various bugs that were introduced in previous monthly rollups.
For example, this new release addresses a glitch that caused MSXML6 applications to stop responding, but also a bug affecting Custom URI Schemes for Application Protocol handlers.
“Addresses an issue with Custom URI Schemes for Application Protocol handlers, which may not start the corresponding application for local intranet and trusted sites on Internet Explorer,” the changelog reads.
These updates are available from Windows Update, and they can be installed on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 right now. There are no reports of failed installs or botched updates so far.