In IT circles, the second Tuesday of every month is often referred to as Patch Tuesday.
On this day, Microsoft releases large update packages for Windows 11, Windows 10, Microsoft 365, and lots of other software. Perhaps more importantly, the days following this are when IT typically receive a higher volume of calls and requests for help.
As there are now believed, at the time of writing, to be around 24 billion internet-connected devices (4 devices for every human on earth) with nearly 1 Million running Windows patching in bulk like this can cause a number of issues and in fact, Microsoft does now try to spread out the updates so it has now become a week long event.
We at AlphaFirst do receive a significant increase in service calls particularly for PC problems and issues with things running slow during the week following the second Tuesday of the month.
Patch Tuesday Schedule for 2024
Here is the schedule for 2024, i.e. the second Tuesday of every month:
- Tuesday, January 9th
- Tuesday, February 13th
- Tuesday, March 12th
- Tuesday, April 9th
- Tuesday, May 14th
- Tuesday, June 11th
- Tuesday, July 9th
- Tuesday, August 13th
- Tuesday, September 10th
- Tuesday, October 8th
- Tuesday, November 12th
- Tuesday, December 10th
Schedule for 2025
Here is the schedule for 2025
- Tuesday, January 14th
- Tuesday, February 11th
- Tuesday, March 11th
- Tuesday, April 8th
- Tuesday, May 13th
- Tuesday, June 10th
- Tuesday, July 8th
- Tuesday, August 12th
- Tuesday, September 9th
- Tuesday, October 14th
- Tuesday, November 11th
- Tuesday, December 9th
Schedule for 2026
Here is the schedule for 2026
- Tuesday, January 13th
- Tuesday, February 10th
- Tuesday, March 10th
- Tuesday, April 14th
- Tuesday, May 12th
- Tuesday, June 9th
- Tuesday, July 14th
- Tuesday, August 11th
- Tuesday, September 8th
- Tuesday, October 13th
- Tuesday, November 10th
- Tuesday, December 8th
What time will the patches arrive?
Microsoft doesn’t set a guaranteed time for when patches and information bulletins about them will be released. They generally arrive in the early evening UK time but may be released later in the day or even later in the week.
How to know what’s being released
Every security update issued by Microsoft (whether it’s on Patch Tuesday or as an out-of-band release) is accompanied by a bulletin that’s published by the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) at roughly the same time the updates are released
The Microsoft Security Update Guide is now the main index for all such documents. It can get quite techy, but provides a very comprehensive list of what’s coming.
The severity column on this list is perhaps of most importance – any patches marked as ‘Critical’ describe issues that, if exploited, could lead to malicious code or access into your systems. These updates should normally be applied without delay to minimise any risk to your business.
I hope the information I’ve provided above about Patch Tuesday for Windows will be valuable in keeping your system secure and up-to-date. Please let us know if you have further questions or require any assistance.
