What is Patch Tuesday?
Patch or Update Tuesday is an unofficial term used to refer to when Microsoft regularly releases software patches for its software products to Windows Based PCs. Patch Tuesday occurs on the second, and sometimes fourth, Tuesday of each month in North America. Sometimes emergency security patches (also known as “out-of-band” updates) get issued for particularly critical security flaws, especially ones that are being exploited in the wild. Patches may install anytime within a 72 hour release time based on how your PC was setup.
- Home PCs by default will install as soon as possible when they turn on their machine at home. Other users have changed default to get a warning to install the update and cab or defer it until it’s more conveniengt to do so. If the user delays too long (1-2 days) then the update will be forced onto the PC.
- In an office environment patches may be tested first, then gradually released to avoid impacting PC performance across the network). It’s dictated by their IT department.
As such, when you hold video conferences on the 2nd or 4th Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday of the month, it’s best for all participants have their system up & running 3-4 hours prior to the video conference to allow the patches to fully install and reboot your PC.
Apple (IOS) based platforms
Apple has consistently released major iOS Updates every year around September. They also release incremental updates with critical bug fixes and updates based upon the feedback every quarter (usually) however they don’t publish the dates!
