Microsoft Update Catalog: Manual Windows updates with Firefox and Chrome possible

The Microsoft Update Catalog is now compatible with Firefox, Chrome and Edge.


When the Windows Update service strikes the operating system, the workaround often leads to a target through a manual update via Microsoft Update Catalog. However, users had to avoid the unpopular, slow and often unsafe Internet Explorer. If users have started Microsoft's browser dino for the first time after a long period of inactivity, it probably bothered with questions about the default browser, settings for the smartscreen filter, or other more or less important recommendations.

In short, the use of Internet Explorer is rarely fun. If any patch day is an important and striking Windows Update, the mood is probably there. Microsoft's controversial ActiveX software is the reason why Microsoft requires Microsoft Internet Explorer for manual updates. ActiveX is a prerequisite for the Update Catalog. Only Internet Explorer is supported. Curiously, Microsoft has no longer considered the component itself in the new Windows 10 Edge browser and deleted the support.


For users who often need the Microsoft Update Catalog, there is now good news. Microsoft has updated ActiveX for the operation of the Update Catalog and now allows manual Windows updates with almost every popular Internet browser. This means, in addition to Edge, Firefox and Chrome - the Mozilla Foundation's browser placements and the Google or alphabet.


Lesetipp: Windows Update - solve typical problems


To start the Windows Update Catalog, you only have to visit the URL www.catalog.update.microsoft.com in the browser. You can then search for specific patches and download them via the interface. Running the subsequent download will start the installation of the corresponding Windows update. The latest changes to the update catalog have been announced by Microsoft on the Technet blog.