Here's How to Turn Off Auto Updates in Windows 10

The auto updates have been pissing me off, every freaking day! Fortunately, there are a few work arounds that I want to share in case others have the same problem. Thanks to this website for the info, although I'm sharing just one method, that site has a few more.

1. Windows keys + R

2. gpedit.msc, press enter

3. Go here Computer ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesWindows ComponentsWindows Update

4. Double click on "configure automatic updates"

5. Click "enabled" then in the options below choose how you want updates, I choose to notify when to download and selected every Sunday. Not perfect but much better than constant updates every time I turn my machine on.

This only works in Pro and Enterprise I believe.

FYI

The Windows 10 icon appeared with Windows Update KB3035583.

Go to the Windows Update dialogue box. Click “Installed Updates” in the bottom-left corner.To quickly find KB3035583, you can sort by name or type it in the search bar at the top right. Once you’ve located it, right-click and choose “Uninstall”.

When you select to uninstall this update, you’ll be asked to confirm and then you will need to restart your computer. Once your computer restarts, the “GWX.exe” and its associated “GWXUX.exe” applications will be removed and the system tray icon and resulting dialog will go away permanently.

KB3035583 returns if you don’t hide it. If you have Windows updates set to download and install automatically, this means that if you uninstall this update, it will be reinstalled automatically a few days later.

To hide the KB3035583 update and prevent it from being reinstalled, right-click on it in the Windows Update application and select “Hide update”.

I've used this method, and so far, so good.


There’s also a registry hack that you can use to prevent the icon from showing up. WARNING: I would only try this if the above did not work for you. I usually don't recommend anyone messing around with the registry unless you know what your doing.

Open up regedit.exe using the Start search or by hitting WIN + R and pasting it into the field. Then browse down to the following key, creating it if it doesn’t exist:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsGwx

Once you are there, create a new 32-bit DWORD value on the right-hand side named DisableGwx, and give it a value of 1.

a reply to: Sharted

Why would you want to turn off updates?

If a 0 day exploit of the OS is released; Which Microsoft patches quickly and you don't have the updater on you'll be vulnerable to malware.

I have always had auto updates turned off, and do it manually once a month. Not once have I had any problems doing it this way. I just hate my PC just randomly going nuts, I like having control over my own computer too. I just don't think it's necessary to update every freaking day, it drives me mental. The PC runs fine, so why continually update it? I realize there will be security vulnerabilities form time to time, but it's nowhere near as dangerous as MS are making out....

Then there are people with low spec laptops who won't be able to use their machine while Windows runs their incessant updates.

I think I misunderstood the OP. My comment was to remove the annoying icon in the notification area telling you to upgrade to Windows 10.

If Windows 10 is already deployed, disabling Windows Updates is not a great idea. As grey580 mentioned, these updates are usually security fixes that are pretty important.

I haven't used Windows 10 yet, but in Windows 7, I have my updates set to alert me when they are available. When I'm alerted I can review what updates are available. If there are any that I think are suspect or not needed, I just hide that update. In short, I don't like automatic updates, but that does not mean I ignore updates all together.

its not a great idea, true

but with each update MS resets telemetry data gathering amongst other info gathering Trojans to the defaults. (I'm not talking about the exposed security stuff they let users 'disable'.