In late 2016, Microsoft decided to adopt a new update approach for windows 7 and Windows 8.1, switching from individual patches to a rollup model split into three different parts: Security Monthly Quality Update (also referred to as Monthly Rollup), a Preview of Monthly Quality Rollup (known as Preview Rollup), and a Security Only Quality update (called Security Only update).
Starting with February 2017, the company is introducing a new change that should help the firm deliver security rollups that are smaller in size and hence easier to deploy for the majority of users.
Updates for Internet Explorer will no longer be included in the Security Only update starting next month, and Microsoft says that this way, the size of the update should drop substantially.
Cumulative update for IE shipping separatelyThis, however, means that users need to install Internet Explorer security updates separately, and while this whole process is supposed to produce a good change, it can actually complicate things even further for those who hoped to get everything all automatically (users who don’t want to deploy the Security Only update and the IE patches separately can install the Monthly Rollup that includes both).
“With this separation, the Security Only update package size will be significantly reduced, but you will need to deploy and install the Internet Explorer update to remain secure for the latest supported version of the browser. Note that the Internet Explorer update will not install or upgrade to the latest supported version of Internet Explorer if not already present,” Microsoft explains.
“To simplify installation for Monthly Rollup users, the new Internet Explorer update will leverage the same installation applicability definition as the Security Only update (explained above), meaning that it will not install on a PC that has already installed the Monthly Rollup (or Preview Rollup) from the same or later month.”
The Internet Explorer security update will be released on Patch Tuesday as well and will include patches for IE11 and IE10 on Windows Server 2012. The Preview Rollup will continue to be shipped on the third Tuesday of the month.
For more information on what’s included in these updates and when they are supposed to ship, you can consult the graph included in the article.