How To Disable Windows 10 Updates

Windows 10 is designed to received both minor and major updates on a regular basis, much more so than in the past. Although rare, big updates can interfere with your existing apps, and break some stuff every once in a while. Some users may want to perform these updates on their own schedule, at a time where problems would not affect their workflow. No-one likes to arrive in the morning and find their favorite app not working.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you different ways to disable Windows 10’s updates.

Note: Windows updates are essential for the optimum performance of your Windows OS. It is advised that you only turn off updates if they are getting in your way. Even if you do turn off, do remember to manually update it later when you are not doing anything on your PC.

Disable Windows’ Update Feature From Services

The best way to completely turn off this feature is to turn off from the administrative tools. This will turn off all Windows update features, including searching for new updates.

You need to go to the “Control Panel” first, the easiest way to access the Control Panel is to type it in the search bar next to Start menu. From the searches, just click on the first search result of “Control Panel” (not under the “Web” heading).

In the Control Panel, click on “System and Security” and in there, click on “Administrative Tools”.

You will see all the Administrative tools on the next page, here you need to double-click on “Services” to access all Windows services.

In the “Services”, scroll down and search for the option “Windows Update”, it should be near the end of the page. Double-click here as well to open Windows update service.

Here, just click on “Stop” to stop all the process and select “Disabled” from the “Startup type” drop down menu. It may take 1-3 seconds to stop all these services and after wards the Windows update feature will be completely disabled.

When you need to again use the Windows update feature, just go to the above location again and “Start” the service again. Afterwards, you will need to go to Windows update settings (you can search for it by typing “windows update”) and click on “Retry” to download all the available updates.

Hide/Block Specific Updates on Windows 10

If bandwidth or slower PC is not your problem, but instead you are afraid that specific updates that may create compatibility issues with  your PC, then you can also block specific updates only (it’s not so easy to know which one may bring trouble). Microsoft has created a downloadable tool called “Show or Hide Updates” tool specifically for this purpose.

The tool will let you temporary block specific types of updates that will only show up when new fixes are available, ensuring the update was safe to download.

If there are any questions or you know any other method to disable Windows updates on all version of Windows 10, let us know in the comments below.  

Filed in Computers. Read more about Windows and Windows 10.