TUTORIAL: HOW TO TURN OFF WINDOWS UPDATE IN WINDOWS 10

There is no option to turn off Windows Updates using the Control Panel or Settings app in Windows 10, as it used to be with earlier versions of Windows. But there is a workaround to disable or turn off Windows Update in Windows 10, that we’ll talk about in this post.

First, let us take a look why people may want to turn off Windows updates.

With Windows 8.1 and earlier versions, we had Windows Update giving us options to:

1. Install updates automatically (Recommended)
2. Download Updates but choose when to install them
3. Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them
4. Never check for updates (Not Recommended)

These options provided a way to defer updates until we had enough time to download and install them or to have them downloaded automatically and then install them at a time we wish. These options are not present in Windows 10 Update & Security Settings.

Turn off Windows Updates in Windows 10

You can do this using the Windows Update service. Via Control Panel > Administrative Tools, you can access Services. In the Services window, scroll down to Windows Update and turn off the process. To turn it off, right-click on the process, click on Properties and select Disabled. That will take care of Windows Updates not being installed on your machine.

But since Windows is a Service now onwards, you have to keep your computer updated. To be able to install the next set of features or a newer build, you will require the earlier updates to be installed. That’s why if you use the above workaround, you will have to go to the Services and turn it on once in a while to download and update your copy of Windows.

After you turn on the Windows Update service, when you open Windows Update in PC Settings, you will see a message that updates were not installed because computer was stopped. You will have to click on Retry so that all the available updates are downloaded and installed. This may take two or three “Check for Updates”. You will have to keep on clicking “Check for updates” until it says your computer is up to date. Then you can go back and turn off the Windows Update service until next time you feel you are free enough to spend time updating your copy of Windows 10.

If your version of Windows 10 has Group Policy, you can also change some settings using the Group Policy Editor. Run gpedit and navigate to the following policy setting:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update.

On the right-side, double-click on Configure Automatic Updates and change its settings to suit your requirements.

We do not recommend that you disable automatic Windows Update in Windows 10. If your computer is fine with downloads in background and doesn’t affect your work, it is not advisable to do it. But if you face slowdown of computer due to updates downloading and installing in the background, the above tip to turn off Windows updates in Windows 10 will be of some help.

Source: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/turn-off-windows-update-in-windows-10