Applies to: Anyone with Windows 10 – Creators Update.
How-To Level: Medium / Advanced.
There was some crazy reporting over the weekend from a well-known newspaper. It said “Windows 10 is SHARING YOUR FILES online”.
Well, I mean, let’s stop for a moment and think about that.
What do they mean by “Your Files” do they mean personal private letters and photos you sent to the family? Or does this newspaper mean files that Windows uses to perform updates are shared with other computers?
The way the headline and first paragraph read it would lead you to believe that Windows was sharing all your personal photos and letters with the whole world.
But.
What it went on to say was that actually, Windows is sharing Windows Update files with the world. And this is much less sinister and actually (for most people) desirable.

Rant over, let’s check some stuff

To open Windows 10 settings for Windows Update open the start menu and type in “Windows Update” then click on “Check for Updates”

Then you get this screen which lists any updates happening now, or a “check” button to check for updates, plus some advanced options, which is what I’m going to talk about here

To see the advanced options you sometimes need to scroll down the screen.

Here is my checklist:

Where to check Settings to set Why Mike thinks this
Windows Update Click the “check” button to check for updates  It’s just good practice if you happen to open this screen to click the button. Generally, Windows 10 does all this its self.
Windows Update > Advanced Options Tick the box that says “Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows. Why not, it’s free, best to have all the updates you can get
Windows Update > Advanced Options Tick the box that says “Use my sign in info to automatically finish setting up my device” When you click “Restart and Update” from the start menu it will finish the install for you and lock your computer securely after it’s finished.
Windows Update > Advanced Options > “Choose how updates are delivered” Click the “Choose how updates are delivered” button, then make sure the “Downloads Windows updates from other PCs” is set to ON This setting just helps everyone, especially you to get the updates faster.
Turn this feature off if you don’t have unlimited bandwidth on your internet connection, most people will have unlimited, if you are unsure you can call your broadband provider to check, but most are unlimited.
Windows Update > Advanced Options > “Choose how updates are delivered” Select “PCs on my local network and PCs on the Internet” option Again this helps everyone, especially you, get updates faster.
Windows Update > Active Hours Set your Active hours for your PC, mine is between 8am and 6pm but yours might be different. This helps WIndows not do updates when you are actually using your PC
Windows Update > Restart Options Some computers (not mine) allow you to schedule a time to install updates, this only works if you leave your PC on 24/7 so maybe best to leave this off Or set it to ON if you know you always have dinner between 1200 and 1300 and want your PC to update then
Windows Update > Restart Options Turn ON “Show more notifications” Why not, it gives you a little more warning when updates are going to happen.
“Fast Startup” Turn off “Fast Startup” – Read how here I can’t tell you how much time this has saved me, it seems to fix a load of problems…