A penchant for patching: After 20 years, the system’s still a mess

As a Microsoft Patch Lady, I’ve been patching computers and servers for more than 20 years. We started with a process that wasn’t well planned. We had no set day or time for when patches were released, and no way to centrally manage and deploy updates. Over the years Microsoft has moved to a more dependable deployment plan and the ability to manage updates through platforms ranging from Windows Update to Windows Software Update Services to Cloud services.

So things should be better now, right? We’ve had 20 years to get this right.

And yet, here’s what I’ve seen regarding patching in just the last week.

We are now on three months and counting of continuing issues with printing caused by patches. (This month included yet another fix for another print spooler vulnerability.) I’ve seen businesses dealing with new side effects directly impacting printing and, interestingly enough, these are businesses that didn’t have problems with earlier updates. This month, Windows 10 peer-to-peer networks appear to be the most affected. (FYI: The trigger for all of these printer issues seems to be older Type 3 printer drivers. Moving to type 4 drivers might help if that’s an option for you.)

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