As you may know, computers can often stop working at the worst possible time. There are also various programs and viruses that can cause a computer to be completely out of action. Today, I will explain if it’s safe to do a Windows update, and if there is anything that can go wrong.
It’s perfectly safe to do a Windows update. There are a few issues that can occur as a result of installing a Windows update, and it’s possible a Windows update can cause a computer to completely stop working. It’s best to not install a Windows update if you need it in the next few days.
In general, something will only go wrong if there is a pre-existing condition with your computer – and in most cases it’s an issue with the hard drive which is responsible for storing the files required for the operating system to run.
But, in most cases you won’t be aware of any issues with your computer ahead of time.
Below, I will cover in more detail what potential things can go wrong if you install a Windows update, the benefits and drawbacks of installing or not installing Windows updates, and some best practices around installing Windows updates and how to fix the issues that can go wrong when you install a Windows update.
What Can Go Wrong When You Install a Windows Update
There are 3 issues that can occur when you install a Windows update. While not common, it’s possible they can happen every time you do a Windows update. Windows updates are released quite frequently.
Small updates occur every few weeks, whereas, ones that occur every 6 months are very large and often take a few hours to complete. These are the 3 things that can go wrong when you install a Windows update:
- Your computer will boot up but have a blank screen (can’t use your computer)
- It will be stuck installing for 6 hours or more
- The update will fail and will never complete
Generally, this only occurs if your hard drive was already on its last legs, or if something happened while it was doing a Windows update. Such as, the power went off, or you unplugged your computer while it was updating – not knowing that it can cause a major problem with your computer.
To fix this when it happens there are a few tried and true methods. But, all of them do require quite a bit of time.
In many cases, each of these issues can be fixed yourself. And all of them are related to a problem with your hard drive.
Fixing it involves:
- Restoring your computer to a previous system restore point
- Running the system file checker to repair any issues with files only our hard drive
- Formatting Windows and/or uninstalling a reinstalling Windows
I explained how to do each of these fixes, with video instructions in this article about what happens if you turn off your computer during a Windows update.
The bottom line about if it’s safe to do a Windows update is:
Never do a Windows update if you need to use your computer for something very important in the next few days. That way if something does go wrong it will give you enough time to fix it.
Why issues can occur when doing a Windows update
As you may be aware, a hard drive is the part of your computer where all the files are stored. This includes the files for the Windows operating system, and is what your computer uses to run Windows.
When your computer is doing an update some of the files for Windows are being replaced by newer files. If a problem occurs during this problem a Windows update can cause Windows to stop working, and causes the 3 problems above.
For example, if you turn off your computer while it’s part way through installing an update some of the files will be replaced with new ones, and others won’t be yet. As a result, Windows won’t work properly, and it will have a blank screen.
With a bit of luck, if you did turn it off part way through installing an update, when you turn your computer on again, it will start installing the update again.
There are two types of hard drives on computers. The newer types – called SSD – became common on new computers in 2006. They are much faster than the older types of hard drives called HDD.
If your computer has an HDD hard drive Windows updates take much longer to complete. When a large update is released – about every 6 months – it can seem like your computer is taking FOREVER to install an update, and it’s tempting to turn your computer off because it seems like there’s a problem.
But, it’s best to wait at least 12 hours to give it enough time to install – it can take that long if your computer has an HDD hard drive. Especially if it doesn’t have much free space available, which makes it run slower.
It may be one of the big Windows updates that occur every 6 months. Here’s a table that shows the different types of Windows updates, how long they should take to install, and how often they are released:
| Type of Update | When they are released | How long it takes to install |
| Windows Defender | Less than once a month | 2 minutes |
| Quality and Security | Once a month | 5 mins to 30 mins |
| Feature Updates | Every 6 months | 2 hours to 12 hours |
Is It Necessary To Do Windows Update
There is a setting in Windows where you can disable Windows update from downloading and installing automatically. Also, before a Windows update is released Windows works perfectly fine. So, here is if it’s necessary to do a Windows update.
It’s not necessary to do a Windows update. Windows will continue to work fine if you don’t do a Windows update or disable Windows update. But, over time programs can begin to not work properly anymore. When that happens doing a Windows update is generally one of the first things you should do.
Doing so is a very effective fix when programs stop working. And software providers often recommend this as one of the troubleshooting steps when a program is not working properly or at all.
Is It OK To Never Do a Windows Update
It’s possible to permanently disable Windows updates from downloading and installing, as well as, pause a Windows update for a period of time, such as 1 month, or 6 months. Generally, if you don’t install a Windows update right away, Windows continues to work just fine. But, is it OK to never update Windows?
It’s perfectly fine to never do a Windows update. In some cases, after not doing a Windows update for some time, programs will begin to freeze frequently, not work properly, or not work at all. If this does occur, then you should run Windows update as a first step.
For example, if you play a computer game and it normally works fine but then all of sudden it doesn’t work anymore or begins crashing a lot, then you should do a Windows update.
But, there are some key reasons to keep Windows updated all the time. I covered these in detail in this article about whether you should keep Windows update turned off.
As you may know, there are drivers. These are a part of the Windows operating system that controls how components communicate back and forth with operating system software. Such as, a graphics card driver.
When Windows hasn’t been updated for sometime but a game is updated it causes a mismatch with the Windows operating system code, and the components. And as a result, when you update Windows it works well to fix issues with programs like games.