Patch Tuesday is generally the second Tuesday of every month.' That day has always been one of major pain for Windows administrators everywhere.' There are patches to download, installations to test, users to alert, and probably a few questions to be answered.

Finding the right scheduled reboot window is absolutely critical towards getting your network to 100% compliance fast.' But finding the very best reboot window is challenging.' For some environments, that window might be the evening of Patch Tuesday ' in the wee hours of the following Wednesday morning.' Setting your window here ensures you've got the speediest installation of every patch.

But if you haven't approved your patches, or if you're out of the office on Black Tuesday, setting your scheduled reboot window too close might mean waiting a long time until the next reboot happens.' You could, as an alternative, just set reboot windows every day of the week.' But that's another example of creating a situation that makes your life easier while at the same time making everyone else's life hard.

You can learn a bit more about managing WSUS patching through Group Policy by reading my article Best Practices in Scheduling Patch Installation for Minimal User Impact or by watching my video, Demystifying Settings for WSUS Patch Implementation in Group Policy.

So this month's question is one that I personally have never gotten the absolute perfect answer on.' Perhaps you can help:' For WSUS patching, what is the best reboot window?' What's been most successful for you?' Share your experiences in the comments below.