Updates - important/recommended etc.

robertc · 09 Sep 2014

When I see the Windows Updates listing there's a tab for "important" and a tab for "recommended." Today I loaded all updates that were important. But when I looked in my update history, a few were described as recommended.

Also, today some places listed one update as "critical" - (the one about IE) and the rest as important.
But the word "critical" didn't appear at all. In other words these classifying things aren't consistent, have you noticed?

NoelDP · 09 Sep 2014

Some updates are Critical in some circumstances, but not others - in real terms, any Security Update should be regarded as Critical - and others as Important or Optional
Since all IE Cumulative Updates contain Security elements, they are all critical - but because a given month's Cumulative update doesn't contain new Security Updates, it may be downgraded.

... but yes, the terminology does get confusing at times. One reason why it's good policy to install all updates unless you have good reason not to do so.