Not counting installation, the first change you’ll notice in WSUS 3.0 is the shift from a web-based interface to one built on top of the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).  In addition to bringing the product in line with other Microsoft products, the MMC enables some rich functionality.  For instance, many objects in the MMC hierarchy have useful home pages with relevant status and reporting information.  Here’s a screen shot of the top-level WSUS home page showing the status of my lab server ‘WSUS3’.

Moreover, you can right-click almost anywhere in the UI and find all kinds of useful tools.  A perfect example is the ability to add/remove columns from the Updates list.  In WSUS 2.0 you were limited to a hard-coded set of columns (Title, Classification, Release Date, and Approval).  But what if you wanted to group items by MSRC Severity, or sort them by KB Article Number?  These scenarios and more are possible with WSUS 3.0.  Take a look at these customized Updates views and see for yourself.

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