Articles about Windows 10 November Update

Microsoft has been releasing two feature updates a year for Windows 10, but with concerns about the quality of its releases being raised time and time again, it has decided to do something different this year. 19H2 -- or the November 2019 Update (1909) -- is more of a service pack than a feature update.

The focus this time around is on "performance improvements, enterprise features and quality enhancements" and it’s available to install today. You won’t be offered it automatically however. If you want to install it you’ll have to follow these steps.

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Windows 10 receives two big feature updates a year, which means there are lots of different versions of the operating system for Microsoft to update. This obviously isn’t practical, and so the company drops support for older releases after a period of time has elapsed.

It ended support for the original Windows 10 release (1507) five months ago, and from tomorrow, October 10, the software giant will end support for version 1511, also known as the November Update.

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Unless you’ve taken steps to actively block Windows 10’s mandatory updates, the chances are the new OS is regularly installing updates without your knowledge, and you'll probably only discover a new one has happened if/when something goes wrong.

For the most part, updates are perfectly safe, introduce occasional new features, and keep your system protected from threats, without you needing to lift a finger. But if you’re the sort of person who likes to know exactly what’s going on with your computer, there are a couple of ways to keep track of the Windows 10 updates.

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I’ve seen a news story doing the rounds today, about Windows 10 removing some third-party user apps following a big update. It’s understandable that people this has happened to are upset, and obviously it's not something that you want your operating system to be doing.

But it’s also not a new phenomenon -- far from it.

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Over the weekend we spotted that the Windows 10 November Update (aka Threshold 2) had been removed from the Media Creation Tool (MCT), and had seemingly disappeared from Windows Update too. We asked Microsoft why this was, and the software giant responded by saying it had decided to remove the November Update from the MCT (giving no actual reason for the decision) but that the update was still available through Windows Update.

This didn’t ring entirely true -- the November Update seemed more like Schrödinger's Update: both simultaneously mandatory, and not available -- but Microsoft had no further comment to make. Today, however, the company admitted to us that there was a problem with the update, and that was the real reason for its disappearance.

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Windows 10 is a decent operating system, but it’s very much a work in progress, and one that’s definitely not without problems. It has some very rough edges (which are slowly being addressed), various annoying bugs (ditto), and of course, it spies on users.

The November Update (aka Threshold 2) fixed some issues (if you were able to get it) but also caused some new problems too. We reported previously how it had reset privacy settings and default apps for some users, but worse than that it appears the update has been uninstalling some third party desktop programs without asking.

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Here’s an interesting story for the weekend -- it seems as if Microsoft has pulled the recently released November Update (aka Threshold 2) from both the Media Creation Tool and Windows Update.

That means if you don’t currently have the update on your Windows 10 device, you won’t be able to download it directly now.

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Microsoft pushed out its first major Windows 10 update earlier today, but if you’re not currently seeing it, be patient. These things take a while to make their way to all users.

If you’ve been holding off upgrading a Windows 7 or 8.x PC, waiting for the November Update (aka Threshold 2) to arrive, now is the time to take action. The easiest way to upgrade is by using Microsoft’s free media creation tool which now offers Build 10586 (which is the current version you’ll get after installing the November Update).

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