How To Manage Updates in Windows 8.1

We all know that keeping your Windows system up to date is vital for keeping it running smooth and to help protect against malicious code. The good thing is Microsoft has Windows Updates set to download and install automatically. This is perfect for a home user, but experienced power users might need more control over them, especially with a heavily customized system with specialized software applications.

The same options for managing Windows Updates that are included in Windows 7 and 8 are included in the 8.1 update, but getting there is different in the modern interface.

Manage Windows Updates in Windows 8.1

The easiest way to get to where you can manage updates in the modern interface is just type: windows update from the Start screen. Then select “Choose whether to automatically install Windows Updates.”

That brings you to the screen you need to be at. Here you can select how you want Windows to deliver your updates.

Managing Windows Update from Desktop

If you don’t want to deal with the modern interface and prefer to keep your computing on the desktop, the same settings to manage Windows Update are still available in Control Panel.

Manually Check for Updates

No matter how you set Windows to handled updates, you can always manually check. Notice from this screen you can also select the link to choose how updates get installed. That brings you to the screen shown at the beginning of the article.