# Disabling Windows 10 updates?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 25, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027 "2017-03-25T20:21:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/1 "2017-03-25T20:21:04Z")
There must be an easy way to disable Windows updates, no? For example, Fiddler 4 can be configured to reject all Internet accesses to certain domains. But Fiddler seems to be a resource hog, and I’d need a list of Microsoft’s update domains. So, if nobody has another answer, perhaps I’ll just suffer along with millions of others, letting Microsoft update itself and then wasting hours trying to undo the damage.
This morning I rebooted. I didn’t want to, but the Task Manager showed that “System” was up to almost a gigabyte of memory. (I strongly doubt that gigabyte was doing me any good; my guess is some of the programmers in Microsoft’s million-coder army were leaking memory.) Of course my laptop didn’t work properly after the reboot. It did work well enough to access Google and ask “How to fix …?” Details don’t matter except to note that
(a) the arcane repair is nothing a user could figure out by himself, and
(b) the instructions for repair did _not_ come from Microsoft.
I’m sure someone will show up and say “Let your software update itself! It’s trying to do you favors!!” I don’t believe it. Most of the stuff that gets poked at my computer is more harmful than helpful. Anti-malware updates? I’m living with the Psycho-hijack, or whatever it’s called, and it’s benign compared with much of the crap I get. Some of the biggest problems I’ve had were caused by anti-Malware software itself. One of them even started killing all the .exe’s I was creating by compiling my own C code. :smack:
And cookies? I don’t know how many thousands of cookies are on my machine right now, but I’ll bet at least 99% do me more harm than good. Yes, some of them generously tailor ads for me _ **but I don’t want ads that I’m more likely to click on** _ — I often do click, and end up reading tripe.
I don’t disable Cookies — then I’d have to listen to more web-complaints “Please enable so you can enjoy our site!” Nor will I ever do a _Clear All Cookies_ again — it then takes hours of effort before Google will figure out what language I prefer. (Hint it’s English/English/English/English/English/English/English/English/English/[del]English/English/English[/del]) where I’ve written “English” for each of the required cookies and “[del]English[/del]” for the language choices Google won’t ever let you set.)
This post starts with a question (GQ?) but becomes 99% rant and may belong in BBQ Pit. I’ve avoided cuss words and compromised with IMHO. I’ll close with one of my prior anti-Microsoft rants:
> [@Thoughts on how to perceive/interact w/ electronic devices/transactions](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-how-to-perceive-interact-w-electronic-devices-transactions/774217/17):
>
> Some talk about the “technological singularity”, when progress achieves sudden growth. I’d like to discuss a different singularity which we may be approaching – the point when Window’s masturbatory behavior consumes all available memory and CPU power, and computer users are no longer able to get any benefit from their Windows computers.
>
> The computer scientist Fred Brooks famously declared that adding additional programmers to a software project may delay the delivery of the software! Microsoft now has a legion of programmers larger than many country’s standing army… I hypothesize that they are approaching a singularity where all their efforts are forms of masturbation. They may continue to release new versions of Windows, but each new version will be more worthless than the previous version.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/2 "2017-03-25T20:54:40Z")
> [@septimus](#):
>
> There must be an easy way to disable Windows updates, no?
Start \> services.msc \> right click on Windows Update \> select Properties \> change Start Up Type to Disabled. That should work.
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/3 "2017-03-25T21:53:06Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> Start \> services.msc \> right click on Windows Update \> select Properties \> change Start Up Type to Disabled. That should work.
Mine is _already_ set to Disabled.
I recall discussions of the difficulty of disabling the Updates, so I think there’s more to it than this. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/4 "2017-03-25T22:05:56Z")
If you set your network connections to metered, Windows update won’t use them to download updates. It won’t affect the network connections themselves - it’s jut a flag.
> **[How, When, and Why to Set a Connection as Metered on Windows 10](https://www.howtogeek.com/226722/how-when-and-why-to-set-a-connection-as-metered-on-windows-10/)**
>
> Windows 10 is designed for PCs with unlimited Internet connections, and it normally uses as much of your download and upload bandwidth as it wants without asking. Setting a connection as metered puts you back in control, and it’s essential...
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/5 "2017-03-25T22:30:55Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> If you set your network connections to metered, Windows update won’t use them to download updates. It won’t affect the network connections themselves - it’s jut a flag.
_Both_ of the Wifi connections I use are already set to Metered.
I should have Googled for the previous thread, where these “solutions” were mentioned and refuted. (That I didn’t is becuase the purpose of my thread was more to rant than to ask — although the Doper reaction that the problem is me, not Microsoft, serves as justification for the efficacy of my rant! 🙂 )
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/6 "2017-03-25T23:26:50Z")
> [@septimus](#):
>
> _Both_ of the Wifi connections I use are already set to Metered.
>
> I should have Googled for the previous thread, where these “solutions” were mentioned and refuted. (That I didn’t is becuase the purpose of my thread was more to rant than to ask — although the Doper reaction that the problem is me, not Microsoft, serves as justification for the efficacy of my rant! 🙂 )
It’s hard to judge the efficacy of your rant in the OP because it is nigh-on incomprehensible. Ramble on, dude.
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### Author:  [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2017, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/7 "2017-03-26T03:33:24Z")
In Professional you can set an organization policy to not download the updates. I did that, but discovered the microsoft bastards will harass you daily for tiny patches to Microsoft antivirus. You can disable your antivirus, but then they’ll harass you for that as well…
I just gave up and turned updates back on. But I can confirm that Windows 10 Professional lets you do this out of the box.
OP, if you are not running Professional or Ultimate, you will need to use a 3rd party program that is basically a hack. There will be no legitimate way to do this using normal tools in the OS itself.
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2017, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/8 "2017-03-26T05:30:27Z")
> [@SamuelA](#):
>
> … OP, if you are not running Professional or Ultimate, you will need to use a 3rd party program that is basically a hack. There will be no legitimate way to do this using normal tools in the OS itself.
I understand that Microsoft has no option to stop the updates, despite the claims in #2 and #4 (\*).
But wouldn’t Fiddler, for example, block the updates automatically if I configured it to reset any access to Microsoft’s domains?
(\* - It does seem odd that Microsoft offers not 1, but 2, ways to stop the update and yet continues to update anyway. I take this partly as a symptom of Microsoft’s bloated army. They don’t have platoons or even companies of coders, but many battalions or even brigades. The 7th Update Battalion just acts independently of the 4th Control Panel Brigade, and 2nd Internet Option Regiment! 🙂 )
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### Author:  [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2017, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/9 "2017-03-26T07:02:53Z")
> [@septimus](#):
>
> But wouldn’t Fiddler, for example, block the updates automatically if I configured it to reset any access to Microsoft’s domains?
In general, if you find a way to block access to the OS for _all_ Microsoft servers, sure.
First of all, I’m not even sure any program running on your PC is permitted access at that level if it is not running at a driver level. Fiddler seems to be for HTTP traffic and it may not be able to see the Windows Update traffic.
Second, how do you know they are using the [Microsoft.com](http://Microsoft.com) domain? They could readily call the domain something else, or have hundreds of domains, far too many to block.
Try this : [http://www.infoworld.com/article/3053701/microsoft-windows/block-windows-10-forced-updates-without-breaking-your-machine-part-2.html](http://www.infoworld.com/article/3053701/microsoft-windows/block-windows-10-forced-updates-without-breaking-your-machine-part-2.html)
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2017, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/10 "2017-03-26T08:23:48Z")
> [@septimus](#):
>
> … although the Doper reaction that the problem is me, not Microsoft, serves as justification for the efficacy of my rant! 🙂 )
Which doper is reacting to say the problem was you? All I see here is a thread with some responses that are trying to be helpful, but haven’t worked for you.
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### Author:  [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/11 "2017-03-26T14:29:51Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> Start \> services.msc \> right click on Windows Update \> select Properties \> change Start Up Type to Disabled. That should work.
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> If you set your network connections to metered, Windows update won’t use them to download updates. It won’t affect the network connections themselves - it’s jut a flag.
>
> [https://www.howtogeek.com/226722/how-when-and-why-to-set-a-connection-as-metered-on-windows-10/](https://www.howtogeek.com/226722/how-when-and-why-to-set-a-connection-as-metered-on-windows-10/)
It depends on what version of Win10 you have. If you have Home, which most people do for their personal machines, you **CANNOT** block updates–you can only delay them by a week or so.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/13 "2017-03-26T16:02:21Z")
In the next iteration, MS will even [ignore](https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/03/20/1339227/windows-10-will-download-some-updates-even-over-a-metered-connection) the metered connection setting for some updates.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disabling-windows-10-updates/783027/14 "2017-03-26T18:24:22Z")
> [@Flyer](#):
>
> It depends on what version of Win10 you have. If you have Home, which most people do for their personal machines, you **CANNOT** block updates–you can only delay them by a week or so.
Setting metered connections is possible for either version - it’s not specifically a ‘block updates’ feature - it’s just supposed to help the OS make sensible decisions about the bandwidth it uses for its own purposes.
Noted that it doesn’t actually seem to have the desired effect any more, but that’s nothing to do with home vs pro.
Pro can be set not to update itself so that businesses can manage updates to the computers on their network in a way that suits them (i.e. via a WSUS server) - which is done for a number of reasons - including bandwidth on the outside pipe, and the need to test updates against business critical software before deploying to the whole business.