Windows 10 updates will be more efficient than ever, Microsoft promises as it announced a significant reduction in size from the same. The technique appears to be similar to that used in Windows 11.

Windows updates have become a high-risk exercise. The Microsoft ecosystem is monstrous in the size of internal and external code and the number of different hardware and software components that need to be supported. No wonder the bugs pile up. Another parallel problem is the large size of the updates and the slowness of their installation.

We get good news from the Microsoft blog and that the Redmond company has managed to reduce the size of Windows 10 updates offered benefits for ordinary users and organizations with many upgradable devices. Besides the obvious, updates download faster, reduce bandwidth usage and network traffic, and offer better performance on slow connections, Microsoft explains.

The company used techniques released for Windows 11 “bringing the same functions.” We’re assuming, since it wasn’t specifically stated, that “delta” updates, widely used on Linux systems including Android, were used. Unlike “normal” updates, in which the entire software package would be downloaded and replaced the one present on the system, delta updates allow for the download of only those parts of the package that have been changed, thus reducing the size of the download.

It premiered in Windows 10 22H2 this week, and specifically in the April 23rd Cumulative Quality Update (LCU), which reduced its size by about 20%, from 830 MB to 650 MB.

The size difference is nowhere near the 40% promised for Windows 11, but there is no doubt that this is progress. Additionally, these updates are quality updates and do not include security updates that will be released on the second Tuesday of May using these techniques (without using inverse diffs). After that, we’ll see if the improvements come close to those of Windows 11.

Much remains to be done, especially in terms of stability of supply, but faster download and installation of updates should improve the user experience on client computers, not to mention organizations that need to update tens or hundreds of computers.