The words of the title, contrary to what one might think, are not chosen at random, but come from the way in which Microsoft has translated into Italian a particular new Windows 10 options screen , where you can choose how to deliver the updates . We saw in another article how to block or uninstall Windows Update updates in Windows 10 .
It is worth, now, to dedicate another article to this topic because, as already explained, in Windows 10, while the Windows Update section has disappeared from the Control Panel, there are more options to control and optimize the download of updates in in order to limit, in case of need, the impact on the use of the network bandwidth and the download mode.
Delivery optimization is turned on by default in all editions of Windows 10, with a difference between the Enterprise versions and the Pro or Home versions.
If in Windows 10 Enterprise the computers of the corporate network exchange data in peer to peer to limit downloads from the internet, in Windows 10 Home and Pro the optimization connects our PC with others on the network and via the Internet to speed up downloads .
READ ALSO: Solving Windows Update errors
Optimization of update delivery works on PC with at least 4GB of RAM and 256 GB of installation disk space and is used only for larger downloads such as cumulative updates or important updates such as the anniversary update in August.
If activated (and it is by default), the PC or device can be used to download and in turn send updates to other computers on the network and on the internet .
Basically Windows Update in Windows 10 works like this:
The PC first asks the Windows Update service to find out if updates are available, then, for Windows updates that meet particular requirements, the delivery optimization service checks whether there are network or Internet sources that already have the update.
If there are, the PC tries to download updates from these systems, otherwise it will ask to download them from Microsoft servers.
Optimizing the download of updates allows you to limit the bandwidth and internet traffic of Windows Update and to make the updates of Windows 10 faster.
On the other hand, some may not even be happy to share their PC information on the network and on the internet.
To check this function, you can go to the Start menu, open Settings (click the gear wheel above the shutdown button), go to Update and security> Windows Update> Advanced options and click the " Choose how to deliver updates " link.
You can then activate or deactivate the update option from multiple locations and choose whether to download and retrieve the updates only from a PC in the local network or if from a PC in the network and on the internet.
This Settings screen, however, is very limited and in Windows 10 PRO version you can view many more options from the local group policy editor.
Then press the Windows key, type the command gpedit.msc and press enter.
From the left menu go to the folder: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Delivery Optimization .
On the right you will see several options among which, the main one, is the one called download mode which determines whether delivery optimization is activated and how it is used.
By activating the option, you can select in the options drop-down menu, whether to use:
0 : HTTP only
1 : Optimization only between PCs in LAN
2 : Group, i.e. between PC in the same domain or Active Directory
3 : LAN and Internet
99 : Simple download mode
100 : Bypass mode: (No Delivery Optimization).
The other options on the Delivery Optimization screen can be used to limit the use of delivery optimization and, therefore, to limit the amount of data uploaded and downloaded by Windows Update and the use of the download and upload bandwidth .
By opening each of the options you can read a mini guide on the meaning and effects of the changes.
The various options of the Local Group Policy Editor are also editable from the registry key editor in Windows 10 Home .
Then press the Windows key, type regedit and press Enter.
From the list of folders on the left, expand them by following this path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ DeliveryOptimization \ Config
On the right side you can change the value of the DODownloadMode parameter (corresponding to the download mode ) with the numbers seen above (i.e. 0, 1, 2, 3, 99, 100)
FINAL NOTE
If you turn off delivery optimization completely from Windows 10 Settings, you can still limit the traffic reserved for background updates via the internet from the Local Group Policy Editor.
Go to Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates> Network> BITS Background Intelligent Transfer Service, by activating the option Limit the maximum network width for BITS background transfers .
READ ALSO: 2 Options that limit the internet bandwidth to be disabled in Windows
