It's easy to get lost in the sea of Windows updates. With Windows 11 and 10 getting separate patches, and each operating system having different patches in different stages of testing, it can get really easy to get confused as to what's getting what features. Now, Microsoft has introduced another kind of Windows update, called "Windows 11 checkpoint cumulative updates," because things weren't tangled up enough as it is.

Microsoft announces the Windows 11 checkpoint cumulative updates

In a move that Microsoft oddly describes as "exciting," the company has announced checkpoint updates. These will begin to kick in with Windows 11 version 24H2 and will change how Windows updates work.

Here's the idea; every so often, Microsoft will upload a big update, which will be marked as a "checkpoint update." From then on, every time Microsoft wants to add something to the patch like a security update, it can upload a tiny patch to fix it. These patches will only contain the changes made since the last update, and Microsoft claims this move will "save time, bandwidth, and hard drive space."

Of course, this doesn't mean that you'll never have to sit through a chunky Windows update ever again. Every time Microsoft wants to make a huge change to the foundation of Windows 11, it will release a new checkpoint update, from which the smaller updates will build on top. However, if Microsoft does pull this off, it should drastically reduce the number of big updates you'll need to download overall. You can check out everything Microsoft has to say about it on the Microsoft Tech Community.

Windows 11 24H2 contained a lot more than a new way to update your PC. If you want to see everything else that was included, check out our guide on the Windows 11 2024 update, and why it didn't end up being the rumored "Windows 12."