14 DAY TRIAL // An update that Microsoft released a few days ago and that proved to be more or less a Windows 10 downloader is now marked as “important” on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, which means that it’s automatically installed on all these PCs.
KB3035583, which is supposed to “enable additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications when new updates are available to the user,” was previously provided as an optional update for all PCs, but it turns out that Microsoft has changed its mind and is now offering it as “important.”
As Woody Leonhard points out today, only some users are getting it as an important update, whereas others are still seeing it marked as optional. Here at Softpedia, the patch is indeed marked as “important,” while on some systems it has already been installed, which means that it’s deployed automatically with other updates that aren’t considered to be optional.
Quietly released on March 27
What’s a little surprising is that Microsoft silently released this patch on March 27, but the company hasn’t provided any kind of information as to what exactly it could do on your system.
Basically, KB3035583 is a patch that prepares Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 computers for Windows 10, the new operating system that will be offered as a free upgrade to PCs running one of these two platforms.
What’s more important is that the patch might actually start nagging users with notifications and messages that Windows 10 is ready (obviously, when this actually happens), in an attempt to convince more people to upgrade.
Right now, the only way to block the update is to hide it completely, while those who are still seeing it as optional can continue ignoring it. If it’s already there on your PC, you can remove it completely and then hide it again when it shows up in Windows Update.
We’ve reached out to Microsoft for some information on this patch and we’ll update the article when we have it.