How to Run Windows Update Manually

One of the unspoken, unwritten, but undeniable underlining themes of these most recent blog postings is that in many ways the world is now catching up with me.  The latest chapter in this autobiographical hagiography concerns Windows Update.  I have contended for years that it is best to run Windows Update manually, and not to rely on automatic updates. My reasons were not based on any specific technical knowledge, but more on common sense along with some general technical knowledge.  One of the first signs of the presence of malware is Windows Update won't run.  The update packages themselves are very large and complex programs.  Any data loss caused by any number of reasons can result in the update not to install.  So for these, and a host of other reasons, it has been and continues to be this reporter's opinion, it is always best to run Windows Update manually.  Furthermore, since the only real protection we mere mortals have against today's malware is to ALWAYS HAVE THE MOST RECENT VERSION OF WHATEVER SOFTWARE YOU USE. So my most fervent suggestion is to run Windows Update manually first thing everyday.

Now along comes Microsoft with a report that says on average it takes 8 hours or longer for a Windows 10 or 11 PC to fully update itself.  So if you want to understand how and why MS says it takes so much time to update Windows, you can follow the link.  Or you can refer to how ExtremeTech reported on this, and then know that I have always been right about Windows Update.  See hagiography above.

If you’re the type to do your updates manually ... then you don’t need to worry about this metric. 

So let's look at how it is done.

First, you have to click the Start Button to get to the Settings Gear Icon.  In Windows 10, when you click the Start Button, see the gear icon will appear on the far left side of the screen.  With Windows 11, the gear icon is among the most recently used apps.