Pros and Cons of turning off automatic updates via Windows services

Topic

New Reply

I have been using the methods suggested by Susan Bradley for controlling automatic updates in Windows 10 Pro, but have found the constant monthly attention needed to make sure updates are applied and deferred correctly to be annoying, particularly when I have actual work to get done for my real job.  (Oh for the good old days when we had complete control over the update process!)

I recently came across this article at Clever How-To’s, which suggests simple turning off the Update service via services.msc.  What do Lounge members think about the pros and cons of this approach?

Reply | Quote

Replies

I only see advantages to controlling Windows Updates and Office Updates for all laptops and desktops under my control.

I use Wub_x64.exe (Windows Update Blocker) to enable and disable Windows Update Services with push buttons. It’s free.   This gives me the complete control I need.

Separately, I disable and enable Office “click to run” updates. I also disable automatic driver updates from Windows Update which have broken configurations in the past. Those are applied manually when necessary.

What is critical is keeping Windows Update off when traveling. I carefully follow the recommendations from AskWoody’s Susan Bradley on when to run Windows Update and what Windows version to run.  Typically, some sort of backup has run prior to running Windows Update.   I have been burned too many times and wasted hours on Windows Update issues.

Windows 10 22H2 desktops & laptops on Dell, HP, ASUS; No servers, no domain.

Reply | Quote

Given the ability to effectively stop updates in Pro, I see no reason to disable WU.
This way you can still use wushowhide or WuMgr to check / hide / install updates at will.

cheers, Paul

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

Reply | Quote

For Win10 Pro, there are Group Policy settings you can set and forget. I look at mine once a month when it’s time to update.
The settings are explained in AKB2000016 Guide to Windows Update Settings for Win10. Section 1 is General. Section 2, although about Win10 Home has some further descriptions. Sections 3-5 are about versions 1909 and later. There are screenshots at the bottom to show where the setting are.

I do NOT use Pause AT ALL – it takes too much time and attention. The GP setting of “2” (notify download/install) keeps the updates from downloading until you click the “Download” button, and wushowhide.diagcab gives you the ability to hide updates you may not want.

Reply | Quote

Do you hide the updates that have appeared with the Download button? Or do you just let them sit there until YOU decide that you want to download and install them?

I find that hiding them when it’s too early to download/install them and then unhiding them when it’s time to do it, takes some extra attention, too but it does keep the WU screen empty until a Windows Defender update is in the queue, at which time I can then click on the Download button to download and install (as they appear, which is at least once a day, but could be twice or three times a day).

But, if I were to just let the monthly patches sit there with a Download button on the WU screen, then they co-mingle with a Windows Defender update. If I remember, there’s one Download button, for whatever is in the queue, be it monthly patch(es) or a more frequently-dispensed Windows Defender update. And then clicking on the Download button just might install a monthly Patch too early.

Reply | Quote

I don’t know how ‘well behaved’ Windows 10 is these days in regards to respecting settings made with services.msc because I use ‘other ways’ of making sure Windows 10 (Home and Pro) doesn’t update anything until I want it to but I do remember a few years and a few W10 releases back that if you disabled Windows Update by just using services.msc the Windows Update service would ‘magically’ turn itself back on again after a certain length of time (or a certain number of PC shutdowns and restarts).

Reply | Quote

My experience matches yours. So Option 1 from the article mentioned in the first post won’t work. If you disable Windows Update, Microsoft will get it going again. However, if you use Windows Update Blocker (WUB) (Wub_x64.exe), the additional logic in the program prevents Microsoft from restarting Windows Update. I validate WUB by checking the service status. WUB also works on Windows 10 Home.

Also, WUB is just an on/off switch. For my purposes, I don’t review each individual update Microsoft wants to automatically install. I just let Microsoft Update do its thing, once the all clear comes from AskWoody. I typically do this monthly after a backup, then shut off Windows Update after it says all up to date.

But I do lock myself to a specific version of Windows 10, and any driver updates are handled individually. These registry or policy settings don’t change except for when I am ready to take the hit for a new Windows version aka feature release.

Of course, there are additional ways to influence Windows Update, as mentioned in the previous posts.

Windows 10 22H2 desktops & laptops on Dell, HP, ASUS; No servers, no domain.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Carl D

Reply | Quote