Pause Patch Tuesday updates, watch out for Exchange server attacks

With the arrival of Patch Tuesday for March, it’s time for me to urge you to again review how you handle updates from Microsoft — and hold off a bit before installing anything. By waiting a week or two, any earth-shattering side effects can be identified and workarounds found. (I give the same advice for the feature-release process. I normally wait until the next release is ready before I install the current one; it’s served me well to protect against side effects triggered by bad updates.)

So, before Microsoft’s patches arrive, here’s what to do: click on Start, go to Settings, then Update and security, Windows update, and look for Advanced options. Scroll down to the section that says, “Pause until” and pull down the “select date” to choose a specific date for dealing with updates. It should be at least a week after Patch Tuesday to give us time to deal with any issues. I personally patch on weekends when I have more time to handle any side effects. I recommend something like March 27 as a good date to choose. By then, we will have identified any issues.

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