The two new patches appear as single updates -- a welcome change from the behemoths Microsoft has been pushing out of late Credit: Thinkstock In a world of monstrous Windows 10 cumulative updates and their attendant problems, Microsoft has released a couple of simple, one-off, little patches. They’re a breath of fresh air. So far this year, we’ve had a mess of cumulative updates, a handful of dynamic updates (“used by Windows 10 to obtain critical driver, component, and setup improvements during the initial setup”), a bunch of servicing stack updates (to fix the Win10 fixer-upper), even an occasional housekeeping patch like KB 3125217. I’ve seen singing bears and uppity orangs that wanna be like you too. But I haven’t seen a single-purpose Win10 patch in many months. Here are the two Microsoft recently released: KB 3147062 — “Signing verification failure breaks audio functionality in Windows 10 Version 1511” — fixes a problem with the Conexant Audio Processing Object, which fails a signing verification. Since the driver doesn’t appear as signed, Conexant audio goes down the tubes. KB 3152599 — “Preinstalled system applications and Start menu may not work when you upgrade to Windows 10 Version 1511” — tackles “a race condition that causes certain registry keys to become inaccessible to logged-in users. Therefore, the preinstalled system applications that have to touch those registry keys can’t be installed during the appx deployment phase.” The patch says it only applies to machines upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 10 version 1511, but I’m not sure I believe that literally. (Win 8.1? Win7?) Here’s why these two little patches are so important: Microsoft split them out from the massive security-update-driver-update-everything-update-cumulative-updates that we’ve seen. That is important because people have a chance to see if the patches break anything. If a patch messes up something that worked previously, you need to go through complex steps to uninstall it (Start > Settings > Update & security > Advanced options > View your update history > Uninstall updates) and block it from appearing again (wushowhide). But if KB 3152599 really messes up your Start menu, say, you can pluck it like a paw paw from Win10’s maw, and go about your way. That’s not as easy as it used to be — in Win7 and 8.1 you would simply uncheck the patch in Windows Update — but at least a bad driver patch has evolved from a needle-in-a-haystack experience and turned into a tractable problem. The patches haven’t yet shown up on my Win10 main machines, and it isn’t clear if they’ll only appear on machines with Conexant audio drivers or those with faulty Win 8 (8.1?) upgrades. Let’s hope we’re seeing a change of heart in Redmond. Related content opinion On a personal note... Woody Leonhard looks back a bit, looks ahead to retirement — and shares good news about who's picking up the Windows patching torch. By Woody Leonhard Nov 09, 2020 3 mins Small and Medium Business Computers Windows news analysis Get Microsoft's October patches installed — and seriously consider Win10 2004 Odd ancillary patches have their problems, but the mainstream October patches look pretty reliable. The big question: Is Win10 version 2004 up to your stability standards. I’m skeptical -- especially because it has few worthwhile improvements. By Woody Leonhard Oct 30, 2020 6 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Computers news analysis Microsoft Patch Alert: October 2020 The big news with this month’s patches – aside from the usual smorgasbord of strange errors – has more to do with the patches that are outside the regular cumulative update stream. Remarkably, we didn’t get any security fixes By Woody Leonhard Oct 22, 2020 189 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Office Microsoft news analysis With Patch Tuesday here, be sure Windows Update is paused With all the flotsam floating around, it’s easy to lose sight of Second Tuesdays. October’s arrives tomorrow and, with it, another round of Windows and Office patches. Take a minute to make sure you aren’t in the front lines, as eve By Woody Leonhard Oct 12, 2020 5 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe