Patch Tuesday (also known as Update Tuesday ) is an unofficial term used to refer to when Microsoft , Adobe , Oracle and others regularly release software patches for their software products. It is widely referred to in this way by the industry. Microsoft formalized Patch Tuesday in October 2003. Patch Tuesday is known within Microsoft also as the "B" release , to distinguish it from the "C" and "D" releases that occur in the third and fourth weeks of the month, respectively.
115-613: Patch Tuesday occurs on the second Tuesday of each month. Critical security updates are occasionally released outside of the normal Patch Tuesday cycle; these are known as "Out-of-band" releases. As far as the integrated Windows Update (WU) function is concerned, Patch Tuesday begins at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time . Vulnerability information is immediately available in the Security Update Guide . The updates show up in Download Center before they are added to WU, and
230-488: A Windows service for transferring files in the background without user interaction. As a system component, it is capable of monitoring the user's Internet usage, and throttling its own bandwidth usage in order to prioritize user-initiated activities. The Automatic Updates client for these operating systems was updated to use this system service. Automatic Updates in Windows XP gained notoriety for repeatedly interrupting
345-408: A server computer on which it is running and redistributes them to the computers within the organization over a local area network (LAN). One of the benefits of this method is a reduction in the consumption of Internet bandwidth, equal to (N-1)×S , where N is the number of computers in the organization and S is the size made by the updates. Additionally, WSUS permits administrators to test updates on
460-471: A "Family Pack" version of Windows 7 Home Premium was also released for a limited time, which allowed upgrades on up to three computers. In certain regions, copies of Windows 7 were only sold in, and could only be activated in a designated region. Support for the original release of Windows 7 (without a service pack) ended on April 9, 2013, requiring users to update to Windows 7 Service Pack 1 in order to continue receiving updates and support. Microsoft ended
575-423: A Windows installation. In case of the former, Windows Update Agent ( wusa.exe ) can install these files. In case of the latter, Microsoft deployment utilities such as DISM , WADK and MDT can consume these packages. Microsoft offers System Center Configuration Manager for very complex deployment and servicing scenarios. The product integrates with all of the aforesaid tools (WSUS, DISM, WADK, MDT) to automate
690-864: A bug related to HDMI audio and another related to printing XPS documents. In Europe, the automatic nature of the BrowserChoice.eu feature was dropped in Windows 7 Service Pack 1 in February 2011 and remained absent for 14 months despite Microsoft reporting that it was still present, subsequently described by Microsoft as a "technical error." As a result, in March 2013, the European Commission fined Microsoft €561 million to deter companies from reneging on settlement promises. The Platform Update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
805-673: A class-action lawsuit), among other critiques. As such, the adoption of Vista in comparison to XP remained somewhat low. In July 2007, following the shelving of the Vienna project and six months following the public release of Vista, it was reported that the next version of Windows would then be codenamed Windows 7, with plans for a final release within three years. Bill Gates , in an interview with Newsweek , suggested that Windows 7 would be more "user-centric". Gates later said that Windows 7 would also focus on performance improvements. Steven Sinofsky later expanded on this point, explaining in
920-527: A computer's CPU capacity for extended periods of time (between ten minutes to two hours), making affected computers unusable. According to Woody Leonhart of InfoWorld , early reports of this issue could be seen in Microsoft TechNet forums in late May 2013, although Microsoft first received large number of complaints about this issue in September 2013. The cause was an exponential algorithm in
1035-882: A decade, the primary client component of the service was the Windows Update web app that could only be run on Internet Explorer . Starting with Windows Vista , the primary client component became Windows Update Agent, an integral component of the operating system. The service provides several kinds of updates. Security updates or critical updates mitigate vulnerabilities and security exploits in Microsoft Windows. Cumulative updates are updates that bundle multiple updates, both new and previously released updates. Cumulative updates were introduced with Windows 10 and only some been backported to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 . Windows 11 24H2 also introduced checkpoint cumulative updates and updates with Hotpatch capable in
1150-498: A fast network adapter (e.g. 10 Mbit/s) is connected to the network via a slow link (e.g. 56 kbit/s) – according to Microsoft "BITS will compete for the full bandwidth [of the NIC] ... BITS has no visibility of the network traffic beyond the client." Furthermore, the Windows Update servers of Microsoft do not honor the TCP 's slow start congestion control strategy. As
1265-412: A finger. Clicking this button minimizes all windows, and clicking it a second time restores them. Window management in Windows 7 has several new features: Aero Snap maximizes a window when it is dragged to the top, left, or right of the screen. Dragging windows to the left or right edges of the screen allows users to snap software windows to either side of the screen, such that the windows take up half
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#17327766631991380-587: A handful of command line tools to install windows updates. A very common tool which already works under Windows 7 and has no external dependencies is for example: wuinstall.exe. It can push windows updates to a computer (wuinstall.exe /install). Office Update is a free online service that allows users to detect and install updates for certain Microsoft Office products. The original update service supported Office 2000 , Office XP , Office 2003 and Office 2007 . On 1 August 2009 Microsoft decommissioned
1495-409: A month, and dispatches them all on the second Tuesday of each month, an event for which system administrators may prepare. The following day, informally known as "Exploit Wednesday", marks the time when exploits may appear in the wild which take advantage on unpatched machines of the newly announced vulnerabilities. Tuesday was chosen as the optimal day of the week to distribute software patches. This
1610-478: A native TFTP client with the ability to transfer files to or from a TFTP server. The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the old Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with the ability to pin applications to the taskbar. Buttons for pinned applications are integrated with the task buttons. These buttons also enable Jump Lists to allow easy access to common tasks, and files frequently used with specific applications. The revamped taskbar also allows
1725-409: A new networking API with support for building SOAP-based web services in native code (as opposed to .NET -based WCF web services), new features to simplify development of installation packages and shorten application install times. Windows 7, by default, generates fewer User Account Control (UAC) prompts because it allows digitally signed Windows components to gain elevated privileges without
1840-883: A new version of Windows Media Center , a Gadget for Windows Media Center, improved media features, XPS Essentials Pack, and Windows PowerShell being included, and a redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion for length, weight, temperature, and several others. Many new items have been added to the Control Panel , including ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets , Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display. Windows Security Center has been renamed to Action Center ( Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds), which encompasses both security and maintenance of
1955-399: A processor with SSE2 and NX (for any then-supported architecture). Windows 7 is the successor to Windows Vista, and its version name is Windows NT 6.1, compared to Vista's NT 6.0; its naming caused some confusion when it was announced in 2008. Windows president Steven Sinofsky commented that Windows 95 was the fourth version of Windows, but Windows 7 counts up from Windows NT 4.0 as it
2070-695: A prompt. Additionally, users can now adjust the level at which UAC operates using a sliding scale. Certain capabilities and programs that were a part of Windows Vista are no longer present or have been changed, resulting in the removal of certain functionalities; these include the classic Start Menu user interface, some taskbar features , Windows Explorer features , Windows Media Player features , Windows Ultimate Extras , Search button, and InkBall . Four applications bundled with Windows Vista— Windows Photo Gallery , Windows Movie Maker , Windows Calendar and Windows Mail —are not included with Windows 7 and were replaced by Windows Live -branded versions as part of
2185-647: A refined version of Windows Vista. At PDC 2008, Microsoft demonstrated Windows 7 with its reworked taskbar . On December 27, 2008, the Windows 7 Beta was leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent . According to a performance test by ZDNet , Windows 7 Beta beat both Windows XP and Windows Vista in several key areas, including boot and shutdown time and working with files, such as loading documents. Other areas did not beat XP, including PC Pro benchmarks for typical office activities and video editing, which remain identical to Vista and slower than XP. On January 7, 2009,
2300-510: A result, other users on the same network may experience significantly slower connections from machines actively retrieving updates. This can be particularly noticeable in environments where many machines individually retrieve updates over a shared, bandwidth-constrained link such as those found in many multi-PC homes and small to medium-sized businesses. Bandwidth demands of patching large numbers of computers can be reduced significantly by deploying Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to distribute
2415-660: A singular exception during the rapid spread of the WannaCry ransomware and released patches in May 2017 for the by then-unsupported Windows XP, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2003 (in addition to then supported Windows versions). For Windows Vista "extended support" was ended April 11, 2017, which will leave vulnerabilities discovered afterwards unfixed, creating the same situation for Vista as for XP before. For Windows 7 (including Service Pack 1), support ended January 14, 2020, and on January 10, 2023, for Windows 8.1 ; this will cause
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#17327766631992530-514: A slow or unreliable network connection, or the same updates may be needed for more than one machine. AutoPatcher , WSUS Offline Update, PortableUpdate, and Windows Updates Downloader are examples of such tools. Third-party services exist for obtaining updates from Windows Update for older Windows versions. These include Legacy Update, which is a community-driven third party replacement for the Windows Update servers for unsupported versions of Windows from Windows 2000 onward. Windows Update Restored
2645-567: A small group of test computers before deploying them to all systems, in order to ensure that business continuity is not disrupted because of the changes of the updates. For very large organizations, multiple WSUS servers can be chained together hierarchically. Only one server in this hierarchy downloads from the Internet. Update packages distributed via the Windows Update service can be individually downloaded from Microsoft Update Catalog . These updates can be installed on computers without internet access (e.g. via USB flash drive) or slipstreamed with
2760-400: A support period of 18–36 months. This is in contrast to previous Windows versions, which received only infrequent updates via service packs, and whose support was governed by the fixed lifecycle policy. With the release of Windows 11 , both Windows 10 and 11 started receiving annual feature updates in the second half of the year. Once a release's support period ends, devices must be updated to
2875-459: A third-party web browser that supports the ActiveX technology. The earliest version of the web app, version 3, does not send any personally-identifiable information to Microsoft. Instead, the app downloads a full list of every available update and chooses which one to download and install. But the list grew so large that the performance impact of processing became a concern. Arie Slob, writing for
2990-408: A timely manner. An analysis done by security researcher H. D. Moore in early 1999 was critical of this approach, describing it as "horribly inefficient" and susceptible to attacks. In a posting to BugTraq , he explained that, "every single Windows 98 computer that wishes to get an update has to rely on a single host for the security. If that one server got compromised one day, or an attacker cracks
3105-629: Is a Microsoft service for the Windows 9x and Windows NT families of the Microsoft Windows operating system, which automates downloading and installing Microsoft Windows software updates over the Internet . The service delivers software updates for Windows, as well as the various Microsoft antivirus products , including Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials . Since its inception, Microsoft has introduced two extensions of
3220-410: Is a background process that checks the Windows Update web site on a regular schedule for new updates that have been marked as "Critical". It was released shortly after Windows 98. By default, this check occurs every five minutes, plus when Internet Explorer starts; however, the user could configure the next check to occur only at certain times of the day or on certain days of the week. The tool queries
3335-420: Is a descendant of NT. Originally, a version of Windows codenamed " Blackcomb " was planned as the successor to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 in 2000. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. However, an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn," was announced for 2003, delaying
3450-488: Is a stripped-down version of Windows 7 meant for low-cost devices such as netbooks . In comparison to Home Premium, Starter has reduced multimedia functionality, does not allow users to change their desktop wallpaper or theme, disables the "Aero Glass" theme, does not have support for multiple monitors, and can only address 2GB of RAM. Home Basic was sold only in emerging markets , and was positioned in between Home Premium and Starter . The highest edition, Enterprise ,
3565-488: Is a term for a set of features in the Pro, Enterprise and Education editions of Windows 10 , intended to ease the administration of Windows across organizations. It enables IT pros to: These features were added in Windows 10 version 1511. They are intended for large organizations with many computers, so they can logically group their computers for gradual deployment. Microsoft recommends a small set of pilot computers to receive
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3680-620: Is also enhanced to support real-time multimedia application including video playback and 3D games, thus allowing use of DirectX 10 in remote desktop environments. The three application limit, previously present in the Windows Vista and Windows XP Starter Editions, has been removed from Windows 7. All editions include some new and improved features, such as Windows Search , Security features, and some features new to Windows 7 , that originated within Vista. Optional BitLocker Drive Encryption
3795-626: Is another community-driven third-party replacement for Windows Update on older versions of Windows designed to replicate the functionality of older Windows Update versions, which also includes the old updates for all Windows 9x releases and Windows NT 4.0. At the beginning of 2005, Windows Update was being accessed by about 150 million people, with about 112 million of those using Automatic Updates. As of 2008 , Windows Update had about 500 million clients, processed about 350 million unique scans per day, and maintained an average of 1.5 million simultaneous connections to client machines. On Patch Tuesday ,
3910-405: Is done to maximize the amount of time available before the upcoming weekend to correct any issues that might arise with those patches, while leaving Monday free to address other unexpected issues that might have arisen over the preceding weekend. An obvious security implication is that security problems that have a solution are withheld from the public for up to a month. This policy is adequate when
4025-460: Is functionally similar to Ultimate , but is only sold through volume licensing via Microsoft's Software Assurance program. All editions aside from Starter support both IA-32 and x86-64 architectures , Starter only supports 32-bit systems. Retail copies of Windows 7 are distributed on two DVDs: one for the IA-32 version and the other for x86-64. OEM copies include one DVD, depending on
4140-511: Is in charge of downloading and installing software update from Windows Update, as well as the on-premises servers of Windows Server Updates Services or System Center Configuration Manager . Windows Update Agent can be managed through a Control Panel applet, as well as Group Policy , Microsoft Intune and Windows PowerShell . It can also be set to automatically download and install both important and recommended updates. In prior versions of Windows, such updates were only available through
4255-516: Is included with Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise. Windows Defender is included; Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus software is a free download. All editions include Shadow Copy , which—every day or so—System Restore uses to take an automatic "previous version" snapshot of user files that have changed. Backup and restore have also been improved, and the Windows Recovery Environment —installed by default—replaces
4370-402: Is limited as the update does not include DXGI / WDDM 1.2 from Windows 8, making unavailable many related APIs and significant features such as stereoscopic frame buffer, feature level 11_1 and optional features for levels 10_0, 10_1 and 11_0. In October 2013, a Disk Cleanup Wizard addon was released that lets users delete outdated Windows updates on Windows 7 SP1, thus reducing the size of
4485-509: Is the successor of the Critical Update Notification Utility. It was released in 2000, along with Windows Me . It supports Windows 2000 SP3 as well. Unlike its predecessor, Automatic Updates can download and install updates. Instead of the five-minute schedule used by its predecessor, Automatic Updates checks the Windows Update servers once a day. After Windows Me is installed, a notification balloon prompts
4600-756: The Engineering Windows 7 blog that the company was using a variety of new tracing tools to measure the performance of many areas of the operating system on an ongoing basis, to help locate inefficient code paths and to help prevent performance regressions. Senior Vice President Bill Veghte stated that Windows Vista users migrating to Windows 7 would not find the kind of device compatibility issues they encountered migrating from Windows XP . An estimated 1,000 developers worked on Windows 7. These were broadly divided into "core operating system" and "Windows client experience", in turn organized into 25 teams of around 40 developers on average. In October 2008, it
4715-481: The KB articles are unlocked later. Daily updates consist of malware database refreshes for Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials , these updates are not part of the normal Patch Tuesday release cycle. Starting with Windows 98 , Microsoft included Windows Update, which once installed and executed would check for patches to Windows and its components, which Microsoft would release intermittently. With
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4830-585: The User Account Control system to make it less intrusive. Windows 7 also shipped with updated versions of several stock applications, including Internet Explorer 8 , Windows Media Player , and Windows Media Center . Unlike Windows Vista, Windows 7 received critical acclaim, with critics considering the operating system to be a major improvement over its predecessor because of its improved performance, its more intuitive interface, fewer User Account Control popups, and other improvements made across
4945-491: The Windows Aero user interface with the addition of a redesigned taskbar that allows pinned applications, and new window management features. Other new features were added to the operating system, including libraries, the new file-sharing system HomeGroup, and support for multitouch input. A new " Action Center " was also added to provide an overview of system security and maintenance information, and tweaks were made to
5060-558: The Windows Live Essentials suite. Windows 7 is available in six different editions, of which the Home Premium , Professional , and Ultimate were available at retail in most countries, and as pre-loaded software on most new computers. Home Premium and Professional were aimed at home users and small businesses respectively, while Ultimate was aimed at enthusiasts. Each edition of Windows 7 includes all of
5175-636: The x64 version of the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) was leaked onto the web, with some torrents being infected with a trojan . At CES 2009, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the Windows 7 Beta, build 7000, had been made available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers in the format of an ISO image. The stock wallpaper of the beta version contained a digital image of the Betta fish . The release candidate, build 7100, became available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers, and Connect Program participants on April 30, 2009. On May 5, 2009, it became available to
5290-592: The Chromium codebase also dropped support for these operating systems after version 109, including Google Chrome and Opera . A fork of Chromium named Supermium is maintained for versions of Windows older than Windows 10, including Windows 7. Mozilla maintains Firefox 115 Extended Support Release (ESR) to support Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. Mozilla has committed to support it until at least March 2025. Steam ended support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 on January 1, 2024. Several Windows 7 components are upgradable to
5405-499: The Ignite 2015 event, Microsoft revealed a change in distributing security patches. They release security updates to home PCs, tablets and phones as soon as they are ready, while enterprise customers will stay on the monthly update cycle, which was reworked as Windows Update for Business. Many exploitation events are seen shortly after the release of a patch; analysis of the patch helps exploit developers to immediately take advantage of
5520-451: The July 2017 date. On March 18, 2016, in response to criticism from enterprise customers, Microsoft delayed the end of support and non-critical updates for Skylake systems to July 17, 2018, but stated that they would also continue to receive security updates through the end of extended support. In August 2016, citing a "strong partnership with our OEM partners and Intel", Microsoft retracted
5635-511: The Kaby Lake and Ryzen platforms. Security updates released since March 2018 contained bugs that affect processors that do not support SSE2 extensions, including all Pentium III , Athlon XP , and prior processors. Microsoft initially stated that it would attempt to resolve this issue, and prevented installation of the affected patches on these systems. However, Microsoft retroactively modified its support documents on June 15, 2018 to remove
5750-518: The Microsoft server for a file called " cucif.cab ", which contained a list of all the critical updates released for the operating system. The tool then compares this list with the list of installed updates on its machine and displays an update availability notification. Once the check is executed, any custom schedule defined by the user is reverted to the default. Microsoft stated that this ensures that users received notification of critical updates in
5865-626: The Office Update service, merging it with Microsoft Update. Microsoft Update supported all versions of Microsoft Office up to Office 2007 and later, however it does not support Office 2000. With the introduction of the Office 365 licensing program, however, Microsoft once again activated a separate Office update service. Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft . It
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#17327766631995980-642: The Windows Update service was also affected, however Microsoft has provided SHA-2 patches that allowed Windows 7 and Server 2008 to continue receiving updates. At the February 2005 RSA Conference , Microsoft announced the first beta of Microsoft Update , an optional replacement for Windows Update that provides security patches, service packs and other updates for both Windows and other Microsoft software. The initial release in June 2005 provided support for Microsoft Office 2003 , Exchange 2003 , and SQL Server 2000 , running on Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003. Over time,
6095-428: The Windows Update web site. Additionally, Windows Update in Windows Vista supports downloading Windows Ultimate Extras , optional software for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. Unlike Automatic Updates in Windows XP, Windows Update Agent in Windows Vista and Windows 7 allows the user to postpone the mandatory restart (required for the update process to complete) for up to four hours. The revised dialog box that prompts for
6210-592: The Windows-help.net newsletter in March 2003, noted that the size of the update list had exceeded 400 KB , which caused delays of more than a minute for dial-up users. Windows Update v4, released in 2001 in conjunction with Windows XP , changed this. This version of the app makes an inventory of the system's hardware and Microsoft software and sends them to the service, thus offloading the processing burden to Microsoft servers . Critical Update Notification Utility (initially Critical Update Notification Tool )
6325-419: The [Microsoft] DNS server again, there could be millions of users installing trojans every hour. The scope of this attack is big enough to attract crackers who actually know what they are doing..." Microsoft continued to promote the tool through 1999 and the first half of 2000. Initial releases of Windows 2000 shipped with the tool. The tool did not support Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. Automatic Updates
6440-972: The capabilities and features of the edition below it, and adds additional features oriented towards their market segments; for example, Professional adds additional networking and security features such as Encrypting File System and the ability to join a domain . Ultimate contained a superset of the features from Home Premium and Professional , along with other advanced features oriented towards power users, such as BitLocker drive encryption; unlike Windows Vista, there were no " Ultimate Extras " add-ons created for Windows 7 Ultimate. Retail copies were available in "upgrade" and higher-cost "full" version licenses ; "upgrade" licenses require an existing version of Windows to install, while "full" licenses can be installed on computers with no existing operating system. The remaining three editions were not available at retail, of which two were available exclusively through OEM channels as pre-loaded software. The Starter edition
6555-403: The company advises users to install security updates, was chosen to coincide with Patch Tuesdays. Adobe Systems ' update schedule for Flash Player since November 2012 also coincides with Patch Tuesday. One of the reasons for this is that Flash Player comes as part of Windows starting with Windows 8 and Flash Player updates for the built-in and the plugin based version both need to be published at
6670-404: The computer has an Internet connection. In Windows 10 and Windows 11 , the use of Windows Update is mandatory, however, the software agreement states that users may stop receiving updates on their device by disconnecting their device from the Internet. There also exist C and D updates, that users enroll in when they click the update button. Windows Update was introduced as a web app with
6785-616: The computer. ReadyBoost on 32-bit editions now supports up to 256 gigabytes of extra allocation. Windows 7 also supports images in RAW image format through the addition of Windows Imaging Component -enabled image decoders, which enables raw image thumbnails, previewing and metadata display in Windows Explorer, plus full-size viewing and slideshows in Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Media Center. Windows 7 also has
6900-528: The course of years for a certain product. Starting with Windows 10, however, all patches are delivered in cumulative packages. On 15 August 2016, Microsoft announced that effective October 2016, all future patches to Windows 7 and 8.1 would become cumulative as with Windows 10. The ability to download and install individual updates would be removed as existing updates are transitioned to this model. This has resulted in increasing download sizes of each monthly update. An analysis done by Computerworld determined that
7015-534: The day Microsoft typically releases new software updates, outbound traffic could exceed 500 gigabits per second. Approximately 90% of all clients used automatic updates to initiate software updates, with the remaining 10% using the Windows Update web site. The website is built using ASP.NET , and processes an average of 90,000 page requests per second. Traditionally, the service provided each patch in its own proprietary archive file. Occasionally, Microsoft released service packs which bundled all updates released over
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#17327766631997130-502: The decision and stated that it would continue to support Windows 7 and 8.1 on Skylake hardware through the end of their extended support lifecycle. However, the restrictions on newer CPU microarchitectures remain in force. In March 2017, a Microsoft knowledge base article announced which implies that devices using Intel Kaby Lake , AMD Bristol Ridge , or AMD Ryzen , would be blocked from using Windows Update entirely. In addition, official Windows 7 device drivers are not available for
7245-636: The development of Blackcomb. By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major malware outbreaks—the Blaster , Nachi , and Sobig worms—exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in August 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold while developing new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn (Windows Vista)
7360-466: The download size for Windows 7 x64 has increased from 119.4MB in October 2016 to 203MB in October 2017. Initially, Microsoft was very vague about specific changes within each cumulative update package. However, since early 2016, Microsoft has begun releasing more detailed information on the specific changes. In 2011, the Windows Update service was decommissioned for Windows 98, 98 SE, Me and NT 4.0 and
7475-435: The end of extended support, available via specific volume licensing programs in yearly installments. Windows 7 Professional for Embedded Systems , Windows Embedded Standard 7 , and Windows Embedded POSReady 7 also get Extended Security Updates for up to three years after their end of extended support date, via OEMs . The Extended Security Updates program for Windows Embedded POSReady 7 ended on October 8, 2024, marking
7590-485: The evaluation of superseded updates which had grown large over the decade following the release of Windows XP. Microsoft's attempts to fix the issue in October, November and December proved futile, causing the issue to be escalated to the top priority. Starting with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 , Windows Update Agent replaces both the Windows Update web app and the Automatic Updates client. It
7705-516: The final end of IA-32 updates on the Windows NT 6.1 product line after more than 15 years. In August 2019, Microsoft announced it would offer a year of 'free' extended security updates to some business users. In January 2023, version 109 of the Chromium -based Microsoft Edge became the last version of Edge to support Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. Alongside this, several other web browsers based on
7820-558: The full ramifications of the dual scan mode. As organizations continued to use more computers, the per-machine Windows Update clients started to become unwieldy and insufficient. In response to the need of organizations for deploying updates to many machines, Microsoft introduced Software Update Services (SUS), which was later renamed Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). A component of the Windows Server family of operating systems, WSUS downloads updates for Microsoft products to
7935-536: The general public, although it had also been leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent . The release candidate was available in five languages and expired on June 1, 2010, with shutdowns every two hours starting March 1, 2010. Microsoft stated that Windows 7 would be released to the general public on October 22, 2009, less than three years after the launch of its predecessor . Microsoft released Windows 7 to MSDN and Technet subscribers on August 6, 2009. Microsoft announced that Windows 7, along with Windows Server 2008 R2 ,
8050-691: The latest feature update in order to receive updates from Microsoft. As such, for Home and Pro editions of Windows 10 and 11, the latest Windows version is downloaded and installed automatically when the device approaches the end of support date. In addition to the commonly used editions like Home and Pro, Microsoft offers specialized Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) versions of Windows 10 with longer support timelines, governed by Microsoft's fixed lifecycle policy. For instance, Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB will receive extended support until October 13, 2026, and Windows 10 LTSC 2019 will receive extended support until January 9, 2029. SAP 's "Security Patch Day", when
8165-1024: The latest versions, which include new versions introduced in later versions of Windows, and other major Microsoft applications are available. These latest versions for Windows 7 include: Additional requirements to use certain features: The maximum amount of RAM that Windows 7 supports varies depending on the product edition and on the processor architecture, as shown in the following table. Windows 7 Professional and up support up to 2 physical processors (CPU sockets), whereas Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium editions support only 1. Physical processors with either multiple cores, or hyper-threading , or both, implement more than one logical processor per physical processor. The x86 editions of Windows 7 support up to 32 logical processors; x64 editions support up to 256 (4 x 64). In January 2016, Microsoft announced that it would no longer support Windows platforms older than Windows 10 on any future Intel-compatible processor lines, citing difficulties in reliably allowing
8280-403: The launch of Windows 98 and offered additional desktop themes , games , device driver updates, and optional components such as NetMeeting . Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 were retroactively given the ability to access the Windows Update website and download updates designed for those operating systems, starting with the release of Internet Explorer 4 . The initial focus of Windows Update
8395-423: The list has expanded to include other Microsoft products, such as Windows Live , Windows Defender , Visual Studio , runtimes and redistributables, Zune Software , Virtual PC and Virtual Server , CAPICOM , Microsoft Lync , Microsoft Expression Studio , and other server products. It also offers Silverlight and Windows Media Player as optional downloads if applicable to the operating system. There are only
8510-490: The login screen notifies them of the restart requirements. Windows Update Agent makes use of the Transactional NTFS feature introduced with Windows Vista to apply updates to Windows system files. This feature helps Windows recover cleanly in the event of an unexpected failure, as file changes are committed atomically . Windows 10 contains major changes to Windows Update Agent operations; it no longer allows
8625-548: The manual, selective installation of updates. All updates, regardless of type (this includes hardware drivers), are downloaded and installed automatically, and users are only given the option to choose whether their system would reboot automatically to install updates when the system is inactive, or be notified to schedule a reboot. Microsoft offers a diagnostic tool that can be used to hide troublesome device drivers and prevent them from being reinstalled, but only after they had been already installed, then uninstalled without rebooting
8740-517: The name, where some of the updates no longer require reboot. Microsoft routinely releases updates on the second Tuesday of each month (known as the Patch Tuesday B updates), but can provide them whenever a new update is urgently required to prevent a newly discovered or prevalent exploit, so called out-of-band updates. System administrators can configure Windows Update to install critical updates for Microsoft Windows automatically, so long as
8855-475: The need for multiple restarts and reducing the number of downloads needed. KB00004 may also include other fixes with their own KB-number that were not separately released. A disadvantage of cumulative updates is that downloading and installing updates that fix individual problems is no longer possible. KB stands for knowledge base as in Microsoft Knowledge Base . Windows Update for Business
8970-747: The network with a password , and files and folders can be shared with all other devices in the HomeGroup, or with specific users. The default libraries, along with printers, are shared by default, but the personal folder is set to read-only access by other users, and the Public folder can be accessed by anyone. Windows 7 includes improved globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services API to provide multilingual support (particularly in Ultimate and Enterprise editions). Microsoft also implemented better support for solid-state drives , including
9085-582: The new TRIM command , and Windows 7 is able to identify a solid-state drive uniquely. Native support for USB 3.0 is not included because of delays in the finalization of the standard. At WinHEC 2008 Microsoft announced that color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit would be supported in Windows 7 along with the wide color gamut scRGB (which for HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as xvYCC ). The video modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB. For developers, Windows 7 includes
9200-538: The old updates for those systems were removed from its servers. On August 3, 2020, the update service was decommissioned for Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 and Vista due to Microsoft discontinuing SHA-1 updates. As of 2021 , the old updates for 2000 through Vista are still available on the Microsoft Update Catalog . On the same day SHA-1 updates were discontinued for older Windows versions prior to 7 and Server 2008, updating Windows 7 and Server 2008 via
9315-508: The older Windows XP version to the most recent Windows 10 versions; a patch to correct the flaw is currently available. In September 2019, Microsoft announced that it would provide free security updates for Windows 7 on federally-certified voting machines through the 2020 United States elections . On September 7, 2018, Microsoft announced a paid "Extended Security Updates" (ESU) service that will offer additional updates for Windows 7 Professional and Enterprise for up to three years after
9430-426: The operating system ceased receiving further updates. A paid support program was available for enterprises, providing security updates for Windows 7 for up to three years since the official end of life. Windows 7 was intended to be an incremental upgrade to Microsoft Windows , addressing Windows Vista's poor critical reception while maintaining hardware and software compatibility . Windows 7 continued improvements on
9545-667: The operating system to operate on newer hardware. Microsoft stated that effective July 17, 2017, devices with Intel Skylake CPUs were only to receive the "most critical" updates for Windows 7 and 8.1, and only if they have been judged not to affect the reliability of Windows 7 on older hardware. For enterprise customers, Microsoft issued a list of Skylake-based devices "certified" for Windows 7 and 8.1 in addition to Windows 10, to assist them in migrating to newer hardware that can eventually be upgraded to 10 once they are ready to transition. Microsoft and their hardware partners provide special testing and support for these devices on 7 and 8.1 until
9660-454: The optional Recovery Console of Windows XP. A new system known as "Libraries" was added for file management; users can aggregate files from multiple folders into a "Library." By default, libraries for categories such as Documents, Pictures, Music, and Video are created, consisting of the user's personal folder and the Public folder for each. The system is also used as part of a new home networking system known as HomeGroup; devices are added to
9775-460: The platform. Windows 7 was a major success for Microsoft; even before its official release, pre-order sales for the operating system on the online retailer Amazon.com had surpassed previous records. In just six months, over 100 million copies had been sold worldwide, increasing to over 630 million licenses by July 2012. By January 2018, Windows 10 surpassed Windows 7 as the most popular version of Windows worldwide. Windows 11 overtook Windows 7 as
9890-774: The previously undisclosed vulnerability, which will remain in unpatched systems. Therefore, the term "Exploit Wednesday" was coined. Microsoft warned users that it discontinued support for Windows XP starting on April 8, 2014 – users running Windows XP afterwards would be at the risk of attacks. As security patches of newer Windows versions can reveal similar (or same) vulnerabilities already present in older Windows versions, this can allow attacks on devices with unsupported Windows versions (cf. " zero-day attacks "). However, Microsoft stopped fixing such (and other) vulnerabilities in unsupported Windows versions, regardless how widely known they became, leaving devices running these Windows versions vulnerable to attacks. Microsoft made
10005-452: The process. A number of tools have been created by independent software vendors which provide the ability for Windows updates to be automatically downloaded for, or added to, an online or offline system. One common use for offline updates is to ensure a system is fully patched against security vulnerabilities before being connected to the Internet or another network. A second use is that downloads can be very large, but may be dependent on
10120-476: The processor architecture licensed. The installation media for consumer versions of Windows 7 are identical, the product key and corresponding license determines the edition that is installed. The Windows Anytime Upgrade service can be used to purchase an upgrade that unlocks the functionality of a higher edition, such as going from Starter to Home Premium , and Home Premium to Ultimate . Most copies of Windows 7 only contained one license; in certain markets,
10235-453: The program's Remote Desktop Protocol , allowing for the possibility of remote code execution , may now include related flaws, collectively named DejaBlue , affecting newer Windows versions (i.e., Windows 7 and all recent versions) as well. In addition, experts reported a Microsoft security vulnerability , CVE - 2019-1162 , based on legacy code involving Microsoft CTF and ctfmon (ctfmon.exe) , that affects all Windows versions from
10350-408: The promise that this bug would be resolved, replacing it with a statement suggesting that users obtain a newer processor. This effectively ends further patch support for Windows 7 on these older systems. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) was announced on March 18, 2010. A beta was released on July 12, 2010. The final version was released to the public on February 22, 2011. At the time of release, it
10465-399: The release of Microsoft Update , this system also checks for updates for other Microsoft products , such as Microsoft Office , Visual Studio and SQL Server . Earlier versions of Windows Update suffered from two problems: Microsoft introduced "Patch Tuesday" in October 2003 to reduce the cost of distributing patches after the Blaster worm . This system accumulates security patches over
10580-450: The reordering of taskbar buttons. To the far right of the system clock is a small rectangular button that serves as the Show desktop icon. By default, hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop. In touch-enabled displays such as touch screens, tablet PCs, etc., this button is slightly (8 pixels) wider in order to accommodate being pressed by
10695-428: The restart appears under other windows, instead of on top of them. However, standard user accounts only have 15 minutes to respond to this dialog box. This was changed with Windows 8 : Users have 3 days (72 hours) before the computer reboots automatically after installing automatic updates that require a reboot. Windows 8 also consolidates the restart requests for non-critical updates into just one per month. Additionally,
10810-852: The sale of new retail copies of Windows 7 in October 2014, and the sale of new OEM licenses for Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate ended on October 31, 2014. OEM sales of PCs with Windows 7 Professional pre-installed ended on October 31, 2016. The sale of non-Professional OEM licenses was stopped on October 31, 2014. Mainstream support for Windows 7 ended on January 13, 2015. Extended support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020. Variants of Windows 7 for embedded systems and thin clients have different support policies: Windows Embedded Standard 7 support ended in October 2020. Windows Thin PC and Windows Embedded POSReady 7 had support until October 2021. In March 2019, Microsoft announced that it would display notifications to users informing users of
10925-645: The same "unfixed vulnerabilities" issue for users of these operating systems. Support for Windows 8 already ended January 12, 2016 (with users having to install Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 to continue to get support), and support for Windows 7 without SP1 was ended April 9, 2013 (with the ability to install SP1 to continue to get support until 2020, or having to install Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 to receive support after 2020). Starting with Windows 10 , Microsoft began releasing feature updates of Windows twice per year. These releases brought new functionalities, and are governed by Microsoft's modern lifecycle policy, which specifies
11040-524: The same machine. Windows XP Mode runs Windows XP in a virtual machine, and displays applications within separate windows on the Windows 7 desktop. Furthermore, Windows 7 supports the mounting of a virtual hard disk (VHD) as a normal data storage, and the bootloader delivered with Windows 7 can boot the Windows system from a VHD; however, this ability is only available in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions. The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) of Windows 7
11155-509: The same time in order to prevent reverse-engineering threats. Oracle's quarterly updates coincide with Patch Tuesday. Windows Update uses the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) to download the updates, using idle network bandwidth. However BITS will use the speed as reported by the network interface (NIC) to calculate bandwidth. This can lead to bandwidth calculation errors, for example when
11270-684: The screen. When a user moves windows that were snapped or maximized using Snap, the system restores their previous state. Snap functions can also be triggered with keyboard shortcuts. Aero Shake hides all inactive windows when the active window's title bar is dragged back and forth rapidly. Windows 7 includes 13 additional sound schemes, titled Afternoon, Calligraphy, Characters, Cityscape, Delta, Festival, Garden, Heritage, Landscape, Quirky, Raga, Savanna, and Sonata. Internet Spades , Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers , which were removed in Windows Vista, were restored in Windows 7. Users are able to disable or customize many more Windows components than
11385-524: The second most popular Windows version on all continents in August 2022. As of 2024 , just 3% of traditional PCs running Windows are running Windows 7, although it remains relatively popular in parts of the world, such as China (where it is tied with Windows 11), and is second most popular in some countries. Windows 7 is the final version of Windows that supports processors without SSE2 or NX (although an update released in 2018 dropped support for non-SSE2 processors). Its successor, Windows 8 , requires
11500-440: The service: Microsoft Update and Windows Update for Business . The former expands the core service to include other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office and Microsoft Expression Studio . The latter is available to business editions of Windows 10 and permits postponing updates or receiving updates only after they have undergone rigorous testing. As the service has evolved over the years, so has its client software. For
11615-689: The system. Windows Update Agent on Windows 10 supports peer-to-peer distribution of updates; by default, systems' bandwidth is used to distribute previously downloaded updates to other users, in combination with Microsoft servers. Users may optionally change Windows Update to only perform peer-to-peer updates within their local area network . Windows 10 also introduced cumulative updates. For example, if Microsoft released updates KB00001 in July, KB00002 in August, and KB00003 in September, Microsoft would release cumulative update KB00004 which packs KB00001, KB00002, and KB00003 together. Installing KB00004 will also install KB00001, KB00002 and KB00003, mitigating
11730-577: The upcoming end of support, and direct users to a website urging them to purchase a Windows 10 upgrade or a new computer. In August 2019, researchers reported that "all modern versions of Microsoft Windows" may be at risk for "critical" system compromise because of design flaws of hardware device drivers from multiple providers. In the same month, computer experts reported that the BlueKeep security vulnerability , CVE - 2019-0708 , that potentially affects older unpatched Microsoft Windows versions via
11845-459: The updates almost immediately, while the set of most critical computers to receive them after every other group has done so, and has experienced their effects. Other Microsoft update management solutions, such as Windows Server Update Services or System Center Configuration Manager , do not override Windows Update for Business. Rather, they force Windows 10 into the "dual scan mode". This can cause confusion for administrators who do not comprehend
11960-408: The updates locally. In addition to updates being downloaded from Microsoft servers, Windows 10 devices can "share" updates in a peer-to-peer fashion with other Windows 10 devices on the local network, or even with Windows 10 devices on the internet. This can potentially distribute updates faster while reducing usage for networks with a metered connection. Windows Update Windows Update
12075-520: The user to configure the Automatic Updates client. The user can choose from three notification schemes: Being notified before downloading the update, being notified before installing the update, or both. If new updates are ready to be installed, the user may install them before turning off the computer. A shield icon will be displayed on the Shutdown button during this time. Windows XP and Windows 2000 SP3 include Background Intelligent Transfer Service ,
12190-523: The user while working on their computer. Every time an update requiring a reboot was installed, Automatic Updates would prompt the user with a dialog box that allowed the user to restart immediately or dismiss the dialog box, which would reappear in ten minutes; a behavior that Jeff Atwood described as "perhaps the naggiest dialog box ever." In 2013, it was observed that shortly after the startup process , Automatic Updates ( wuauclt.exe ) and Service Host ( svchost.exe ) in Windows XP would claim 100% of
12305-401: The vulnerability is not widely known or is extremely obscure, but that is not always the case. There have been cases where vulnerability information became public or actual worms were circulating prior to the next scheduled Patch Tuesday. In critical cases Microsoft issues corresponding patches as they become ready, alleviating the risk if updates are checked for and installed frequently. At
12420-424: Was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista , released nearly three years earlier. Windows 7's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2 , was released at the same time. It was succeeded by Windows 8 in October 2012. Extended support ended on January 14, 2020, over ten years after the release of Windows 7, after which
12535-566: Was also restarted, and thus delayed, in August 2004. A number of features were cut from Longhorn. Blackcomb was renamed Vienna in early 2006, and was later canceled in 2007 due to the scope of the project. When released, Windows Vista was criticized for its long development time , performance issues, spotty compatibility with existing hardware and software at launch, changes affecting the compatibility of certain PC games, and unclear assurances by Microsoft that certain computers shipping with XP before launch would be "Vista Capable" (which led to
12650-727: Was announced that Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system. There had been some confusion over naming the product Windows 7, while versioning it as 6.1 to indicate its similar build to Windows Vista and increase compatibility with applications that only check major version numbers, similar to Windows 2000 and Windows XP both having 5.x version numbers. The first external release to select Microsoft partners came in January 2008 with Milestone 1, build 6519. Speaking about Windows 7 on October 16, 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed compatibility between Windows Vista and Windows 7, indicating that Windows 7 would be
12765-599: Was free add-ons and new technologies for Windows. Security fixes for Outlook Express , Internet Explorer and other programs appeared later, as did access to beta versions of upcoming Microsoft software, e.g. Internet Explorer 5 . Fixes to Windows 98 to resolve the Year 2000 problem were distributed using Windows Update in December 1998. Microsoft attributed the sales success of Windows 98 in part to Windows Update. The Windows Update web app requires either Internet Explorer or
12880-615: Was not made mandatory. It was available via Windows Update, direct download, or by ordering the Windows 7 SP1 DVD. The service pack is on a much smaller scale than those released for previous versions of Windows, particularly Windows Vista. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 adds support for Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX), a 256-bit instruction set extension for processors, and improves IKEv2 by adding additional identification fields such as E-mail ID to it. In addition, it adds support for Advanced Format 512e as well as additional Identity Federation Services . Windows 7 Service Pack 1 also resolves
12995-441: Was possible in Windows Vista. New additions to this list of components include Internet Explorer 8 , Windows Media Player 12 , Windows Media Center, Windows Search , and Windows Gadget Platform. A new version of Microsoft Virtual PC , newly renamed as Windows Virtual PC was made available for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. It allows multiple Windows environments, including Windows XP Mode , to run on
13110-456: Was released on February 26, 2013 after a pre-release version had been released on November 5, 2012. It is also included with Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7. It includes enhancements to Direct2D , DirectWrite , Direct3D , Windows Imaging Component (WIC), Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP), Windows Animation Manager (WAM), XPS Document API, H.264 Video Decoder and JPEG XR decoder. However support for Direct3D 11.1
13225-686: Was released to manufacturing in the United States and Canada on July 22, 2009. Windows 7 build 7600.16385.090713-1255, which was compiled on July 13, 2009, was declared the final RTM build after passing all Microsoft's tests internally. Among Windows 7's new features are advances in touch and handwriting recognition , support for virtual hard disks , improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, DirectAccess , and kernel improvements. Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors (Heterogeneous Multi-adapter),
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