Feature update to Windows 10, version 1607 - WHY 3+ GIGS?

ausgumbie said:

Hey, ???

I'm just getting a Windows update now (ca. 10:13 AM Brisbane Australia) - my laptop screen suddenly went black and when things reappeared, previously-open windows were misaligned and differently sized.

The Windows Settings box which had been showing downloads (I had hit "search for updates") was blank. I rebooted it and it shows "Feature update to Windows 10, version 1607" downloading. I'd researched 1607 and had understood it amounted only to a download in megabytes if you already had 1511 (which I do).

I'm on metred connection - is this going to happen all the time??

ausgumbie

Don't know you're whole situation, but that wording and the size of ~3GB sounds an awful lot like the Anniversary Update download.

ausgumbie said:

Yes. 1607 is the Anniversary Download. My alarm is over the 3 gigs. As said, when I'd read up on 1607, I'd understood it amounted to only download in megabytes if you already had 1511.

Thanks

ausgumbie

You may be confusing some of the articles about Cumulative Updates. If you already have the big cumulative update installed, subsequent cumulative updates will be small because they are, well, cumulative. The AU is like a new build, it's is about 3GB. That would also explain the misalignments and different sizes of things. If you had custom settings for sizes and fonts and placement, for example, the new build (AU) would reset all to default. That's just what happens.

EDIT: And, no....that will not occur all the time. Not until the next BIG UPDATE...months and months away!

Hello ausgumbie, I believe @f14tomcat is off line right now. But you are correct, the 1607 was an entire new build. There will be small cumulative updates come along, but they are rather small. 1607 was the same for everyone, a whole new build somewhere in the 3 GB range. I wouldn't expect a whole new build for quite some time. I hope I helped answer your questions.

If you would like to know what build you have installed, just type winver in the search box and press enter. You should see something like this.

New build upgrades which are released perhaps once or twice a year are full Windows builds.
10240 was 3Gb + as was 1511, as is 1607, as will be the next major build.

This has the advantage that you can then download one single file, for example, to clean install the latest major build, or use it to do an in-place upgrade repair install.

Previous Windows became Win x + SP1 + SP2 + SP3 + updates... which meant LOTS of big downloads and 100s of updates.

So it's actually much tidier.