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Nice.  A hint to them – they should list this in their features!

 

Overall, how does it compare to Start11?  Sooner or later I’ll have to update more PC’s.

 

Thanks!

The Startallback feature page doesn’t mention toolbars, a huge feature.

Does Explorer Patcher work with Start11 – or replace it adding the tool bars?

I manage several PC’s for my family, and try to keep things as simple and standard as possible.  My adult kids are trained how to use WU on their own laptops.  I do fully agree with using gpedit to block driver updates through WU – I can’t recall a single one where it either made sense or was correct, almost as if MS was randomly picking out the very old or buggy driver of the month to suddenly install without warning.

Where in gpedit does one find  ‘notify=2’?

And I’ve seen multiple instances of defer dates being cleared.  Monthly, shortly before WU Tuesday, I make sure to run updates.  Reboot.  Come back up, go into WU, see that nothing other than maybe previews are offered, and then defer the date until a few days after the next WU Tuesday.  And yet the date keeps getting cleared, especially on a Win 11 Pro laptop that was a Dell warranty replacement.  On that one, it usually happens the night of WU Tuesday.

 

I generally understand what you are saying.  Now, let’s say that on a given day I’ve finished installing all pending mandatory updates for that month, done a check for updates, and except for previews there is nothing left.  I set the DEFER TO date.  And then, some days later, WU THEN clears that date and proceeds to download and install updates.  Plus, even though I’ve told it to not automatically reboot, it does anyway.

Interesting.  Thanks!

I’ve set one PC with Pro to not include driver updates with WU.  I had extra incentive; I went to do updates on a Win 10 Pro pc a few hours ago, and when I thought it was ready to reboot, it suddenly installed, without any warning, an Nvidia driver update which is apparently known for having lots of problems.  So this will go on all my Pro systems.

But does anyone know how WU gets to clear out Defer To dates?

I absolutely agree; restore points and backups done regularly.  But I’d like to know how I can set a defer to date, and Windows clears it on its own.  Again, I set those dates AFTER I do updates and reboot.

No, I do the update and its referral, and after reboot, set the defer date.  You can’t theoretically do an update if a defer update is done, so each time I do updates, I make sure the defer date is clear, do what I need, finish any reboots, THEN set a new defer date.

Pro, advanced options under WU, pick the date to defer to.

Are other people seeing this DEFER date clear problem?

I just posted separately before seeing this, but I DO defer updates under 22H2, and as of July 2, 2023, had set WU to defer for at least a week or so.  Now, at about 1AM EDT July 4, WU went ahead and did a .NET update AND rebooted.  And once up, it told me it was going to reboot after hours for another update.  And needless to say, my DEFER date had been cleared.  This is a common thread for me; WU clears my defer dates, then does updates ‘at will’.  So, what’s the point of DEFER dates if WU can just independently clear them?

Reason I asked; some laptops have dual INTEL and Nvidia or AMD graphics and you get dire warnings when you try to install drivers from the Intel or Nvidia or AMD sites rather than from a laptop’s manufacturer’s website.

Thanks – now I know where this version came from.  Oddly, I’ve never seen NVIDIA drivers do a TDR, but years ago had many on AMD.  I expect to take care of this early next week when I have hands on the laptop.  Also interesting about this driver is that it’s likely from February, yet got pushed at you by Dell in April.

Are there any issues installing driver updates directly from NVIDIA?  I’m assuming you think not.

I have not seen SupportAssistant or its website do automatic updates, and oddly, lately they don’t even tag some of the critical updates.

What I still don’t know is what the laptop was installing ‘on its own’ when sleeping, and what triggered the TDR.  Last time I saw one of those was when Windows asked for permission to ‘change the system’ and turned the screen black – since then I always change that behavior to not do that, just ask for permission.  And the only software run, at times on this laptop, that might ‘pressure’ graphics is Runescape.  I’m hoping that the Event Viewer shows me.

 

It is Pro, so I plan to use your GPEDIT directions.  I do not ever want Win 11 to ‘update’ drivers, especially since they are often the wrong versions.  Thanks!