Editing an Update Filter

On the settings page for Windows Updates, you can define include and exclude filters for windows updates.

In the update filter summary, click the "Edit" button to bring up the filter details:

On this screen, you can add and remove filters using the links at the top, "Remove Filter" and "Add Filter".

Adding Filters

To add an update filter, select the type of update filter next to "Add Filter" from the drop down list, and click on the "Add Filter" link.

Removing Filters

To remove an item or multiple items from the list, click on the check boxes for the update filters you wish to remove, and then click on the "Remove Filter" link.

Update Filter Types

The OptiTune client supports the following types of update filters:

Name

Enter the full name of the update to target.

Name Contains

Enter some text to select all updates that have this text in their name.

KB Article

Enter the Microsoft Knowledgebase Article number to select all updates that reference the KB Article number. Note that this value should contain only the digits, e.g. "2598287", not "KB2598287".

Update ID

Enter the update ID to target, in GUID format, e.g. "DA573064-0E0C-4B28-A809-D3E4DCEF275E". The update ID of a particular update can be found on the update details page.

Revision Number

If you have entered an Update ID, you can also target the particular revision number by entering it here. It is optional, but must be a numeric value, e.g. "102". The revision number of a particular update can be found on the update details page.

Custom

A custom filter lets you target other aspects of windows updates. Importantly, it targets updates which meet all properties defined in the filter. You only need to set one or more properties in a custom filter.

  • Importance - Specify the importance of the updates to select, including "Mandatory", "Important", or "Optional".

  • Category - Specify the category of updates to select.

  • Product - Specify the product for which the update is designed.

  • Published Date - Specify if the date the update was published should be greater (>) or less than (<) than X days old.

  • Attributes - Specify if the update is hidden, exclusive, or requires a reboot.

Multiple Update Filters

When you add several update filters, the entire filter selects all updates targeted by any of the filters. For example, if you have a "Name" filter with "xyz" as the value, and a KB Article with "2598287" as the value, the entire filter selects updates that have a name "xyz" or reference KB Article "2598287".

With the custom filter, it selects all updates which meet all of its conditions. This is an important difference between update filters, and the custom filter. Effectively, the values inside a filter (e.g. custom filter, update id filter) use "AND" logic, and the list of update filters uses "OR" logic.

For the update filters entered in the screen shot above, the logic would be:

Select all updates which:

Have the attributes:
(Importance = Important) AND (Category = Security Updates) AND (Published more than 6 days ago) AND (Require a Reboot)  
OR  
Name is "Security Update for Microsoft Visio Viewer 2010 (KB2598287) 32-Bit Edition"  
OR  
Name Contains "final"  
OR  
Reference KB Article 2598287  
OR  
Have (Update ID = DA573064-0E0C-4B28-A809-D3E4DCEF275E) AND (Revision = 102)