Most of the time I feel that it’s wise to hold back and see what issues arise. I can count on two fingers the times I’ve done that in my life.

I’ll let you know when I run screaming to my computers and tell everyone I’m going to be rebooting NOW. I don’t recommend that you install updates immediately unless there is a real and clear risk of an attack. By the following week we will have enough evidence to know if issues are “one-offs” or if many of us are seeing the issue and thus Microsoft will need to fix the issue. People will install updates and issues start to bubble up on the forums usually around Friday of that week. Security updates come out on the Second Tuesday (North America-ish time zones) or Second Wednesday (European-ish time zones). If you use Internet Explorer, you need to be more cautious about installing those massive IE updates. The MS-DEFCON level also assumes that you’re using (new) Edge, Firefox, Brave, Opera or Chrome, or any browser other than Internet Explorer. The MS-DEFCON system assumes that you have your Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 or 11 firewall turned on, that you’re using an up-to-date antivirus program (I use Windows Defender/Microsoft Security Essentials, although there are good alternatives) and some form of hardware protection, like almost any router. Check this site to see if you’re affected and if things look OK, go ahead and patch. There are isolated problems with current patches, but they are well-known and documented here. It is prudent to patch but check your results carefully. There are widespread problems with current patches. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don’t do it.

The smaller the number, the higher the risk.Ĭurrent Microsoft patches are causing havoc.

It’s modeled after the US armed forces DEFCON system and uses the same colors as the US Homeland Security alert levels. I call it the Microsoft Patch Defense Condition Level, or MS-DEFCON for short. I have a rating system that lets individual Microsoft consumers know when it’s safe to install patches.

Defcon level