How to Stop Windows 10 Automatic Updates?

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As you all know, the basic intention of Windows updates is to power up the operating system against external threats and system-level vulnerabilities. Windows 10 updates are not an exception. But, there’s one thing that separates Windows 10 updates from those in Windows 7 or 8. Can you spot that?

Unlike its predecessors, you won’t be able to disable automatic Windows updates in Windows 10 through Control Panel Windows Update Settings. In the first look, many of you may not consider this as a serious issue. But sometimes, it can be much more crucial than you think.

Consider this situation – you want to turn off your Windows 10 PC. For that, you selected the Power -> Shut Down option. Here comes the real trouble – the downloaded Windows updates are being installed on your PC. You really have no time to wait for updates to finish. So, you forcefully pressed the turn-off button on your PC for a hard shutdown. After some time, you turn on your PC again. But this time, you are seeing a Windows logo on the screen – without booting your Windows 10. Even if you restart the PC, you’re seeing the same thing. What happened is obvious from these results– your Windows 10 is crashed.

It’s not necessary that your Windows 10 will crash if you forcefully abort Windows updates. But, adverse results may appear including loss of your precious files. Sometimes if the update is not compatible with the PC hard drive, there are chances that a Windows update even slows down the laptop or PC.

Although Windows 10 file recovery isn’t a much demanding task now, it’s better to take precautions to avoid similar situations.

And, there can have network issues, flash plugin issues, etc after installing some Windows updates. In such situations, you may need to go “View Installed Updates” section and manually find out which update is responsible for your issue and uninstall that to resolve the issue.

However, such a method is not always feasible especially if you have already installed hundreds of updates. In such situations, you’ll never know which update is the main culprit behind your system issue. So, it’s time to find another alternative even it’s to permanently stop Windows updates.

Interesting Read: Disable the Hidden Keylogger in Windows 10

How to Disable Windows Updates in Windows 10?       

We’ve already discussed that it’s not possible to turn off updates in Windows 10 through Control Panel Windows Update settings. But, still there’s one more option – Windows Update service.

stop windows 10 update

To turn off updates through this option:

  1. Select Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services.
  2. In the Services Window, find Windows update and open it.
  3. Change the Startup type to Disabled

That’s it!

Anyway, we never recommend you disable Windows updates. Perhaps, the reason you’d know – Microsoft has brought a new Windows as a service model by the introduction of Windows 10. All the new features of Windows will be available only through Windows Updates. To install such new features, you will require older updates. If any major Windows update is available, you will have to install all the prior updates before trying for such major updates.

About the Author: John Harris

With a decade of experience in data recovery, John Harris, Senior Editor at Remo Software, is your go-to specialist. His focus includes partition management, Windows solutions, and data troubleshooting, delivering insightful content that serves both users and search engines. John's expertise shines through in illuminating blog posts, untangling data loss intricacies across diverse storage platforms.…