As part of your partnership with The Purple Guys, we manage and monitor Windows and other 3rd party updates for your workstations and servers. This management not only ensures that your devices receive critical security patches, but it also allows us to prevent issues that can stem from a “bad update.” Especially since the debut of Windows 10, Microsoft has been known to push updates that negatively impact services, applications, and other tools.
The last thing we want is for a bad update to interrupt your workflow, so we only auto approve those updates that are critical. Critical updates patch known security vulnerabilities and keep your devices secure. All other updates are reviewed by our Managed Services Administrator and only pushed once we feel confident that they will not have any adverse effects.
There is one type of update, the Windows Feature Update, that is notorious for causing issues at release. These updates are delivered twice a year and are technically new versions of Windows 10. As the name suggests, feature updates typically include new features, improvements to how apps operate, changes to design elements, and general enhancements to the overall Windows user experience. Since these updates often break more than they fix, The Purple Guys intentionally waits to deploy them to your devices. By delaying the update, we make certain that it will not cause downtime and provide Microsoft the opportunity to correct any of their mistakes.
Managing Windows updates also allows for scheduling when these patches are downloaded and installed. By scheduling this process, we can strategically avoid interruption. Feature updates are typically around 3.5 GB in size, so being mindful of the download and installation can be crucial.
When The Purple Guys is managing your organization’s updates, you should see a message that “some settings are managed by your organization” in your Windows update settings.
If you have ever checked the Windows update status of your device, you may have noticed that is says it is “out of date” or “missing updates.” This is due to the way The Purple Guys manages updates for your organization. Once we take over the management of updates, this view becomes an unreliable way to check your patch status. If needed, a full report of your device’s patch status can be provided on demand.
To learn more about what patch management is and how it benefits your organization, check out this blog post and video. Please let us know if you have any questions regarding your organization’s patch management or would like a report of your device’s patch status.