Any way to completely delete Windows Update Service in Windows 10?

[Bohandas]

Two recent events have made it necessary for me to completely delete the update service on my windows 10 PC:

1.) My system recently downloaded and installed an update even though the update service was set to be disabled

2.) Classic Shell has stopped releasing compatibility updates for new Windows versions

So now I need to completely and permanently disable Windows updates or I risk having a program that is essential for operation of my computer (and therefore the entire computer itself) rendered unusable.

How would I go about doing this? Is there a file or files that can be deleted?

[Gnoman]

Even if it can be done, doing so is an incredibly stupid thing to do. You might as well walk around with a "rob me" sign hung around your neck, and it makes your computer a threat to every other computer on the Internet.

If you don't want to deal with Windows Updates, switch to a different operating system or don't use a computer at all.

[Bavarian itP]

Again?

If you don't want to deal with Windows Updates, switch to a different operating system or don't use a computer at all.

QFT. Seriously people, this is not hard. Or complicated. At all.

[Bohandas]

Even if it can be done, doing so is an incredibly stupid thing to do.

An update is more likely to render my computer unusable than a virus is at this point

[Gnoman]

In that case, I have some property to sell you, with a very nice view of Brooklyn.


That is the sort of thing every gullible idiot spews out, until one day they're panicking because all they get is a ransomware screen.

[Bohandas]

And you need to stop watching the news so much. It's nothing but an endless parade of bogeymen that, while technically real, at the end of the day are only ever going to affect a handful of people. Things like ransomware, ebola, swine flu, terrorists, autism, illegal immigration, artificial sweeteners, genetically modified corn, and/or - if you're old enough - communism, the king of the bogeymen.

Take care, sir, those over there are not giants but windmills.

[Gnoman]

According to security experts, more than one billion serious malware infections were detected in 2016 alone. The vast majority of those used exploits that had already been fixed, and propagated only because of stubborn idiots who thought they were too smart to get infected. Then those same idiots blame Microsoft "making bad operating systems" for a problem they created.

[aspi]

So now I need to completely and permanently disable Windows updates or I risk having a program that is essential for operation of my computer (and therefore the entire computer itself) rendered unusable.

Although I understand that this is not what you want to hear and I can actually relate to the feeling quite well, you are basing your argument on a fundamental misconception. You are convinced that Classic Shell is necessary to keeping your computer operational, while system updates are not. In reality, the opposite is true. Classic Shell is providing features that allow you to adapt certain functionalities to your taste and to a way of operating the system that you have come to prefer. However, it does not add anything that Windows could not do without it, albeit in a slightly more complicated or unfamiliar way. Updates on the other hand are essential not just for security reasons but for compatibility. As new software and hardware is released, your operating system has to be updated to be able to install and/or use them. If you simply disable them you take these away. At some point, other software that you like using will stop working, forcing you to freeze these as well, leading to a cascade of freezes that isolates you in a bubble of outdated software.

At the current rate of software and hardware development, freezing an operating system is simply not possible. It may work for some months or even years, but you will run into issues that should not exist and would not exist if you had installed updates. You will have problems opening files, installing software, using new hardware that should be plug-and-play, or even accessing newer websites. The longer you go without updates, the more frequent these issues will become. I understand the instinct to keep your system as is because adapting is hard - and Classic Shell is one example of a treatment for this symptom, but it is not treating the underlying illness. I can guarantee you that sooner or later, you will have to adapt. You are not doing yourself a favor by sticking to the way things used to work. The longer you wait, the harder this change will become.

[Bohandas]

the underlaying illness is they keep xhanging the interface, and not for the better. Their current interface is absolute ****. For perspective this is coming from someone who has spent hundreds of hours playing Dwarf Fortress, but as bad as that game's interface is it's still better than the interface Microsoft expects people to use to run their entire computer.

[halfeye]

Install Windows 7?

[Bohandas]

How would I do that?

[halfeye]

How would I do that?

I don't know now. There was a time you could install it from a new disc, but now that seems to be 32 bit only, which is useless.

Win7 professional is still available, but there seem to be issues with that (I've got an install where the mouse wheel doesn't work). If your computer is an old one which originally came with Win7 on disc, maybe you can go back?

[Bohandas]

No, this one came with Windows 10.

[Bohandas]

Would it be possible to block microsoft's update server with a firewall?

[Silfir]

Unhook your computer from your internet and keep it that way forever. That will stop any updating from going on, and keep your system safe.

Giving you any other advice is willfully negligent, or even complicit behavior. It'd be like handing a sledgehammer to someone determined to destroy his car.

[Telok]

At my work we have frozen our Windows versions for 6 months now and are looking at going on this way for another three to six months. But we use and develop custom software in addition to being on our own network and behind professional firewalls/AV/proxies. There's more danger to us of lost billable hours due to frequent updates that break things for the whole office than of us downloading something sketchy and losing a computer.

You can try these but if 'Active Directory' and 'WSUS' are foreign phrases to you there may be a significant learning curve.

Spoiler: Links

Show

https://community.spiceworks.com/how...uide-trainings
https://community.spiceworks.com/how...a-group-policy
https://community.spiceworks.com/top...rom_forum=5568

[Bohandas]

Even if it can be done, doing so is an incredibly stupid thing to do. You might as well walk around with a "rob me" sign hung around your neck, and it makes your computer a threat to every other computer on the Internet.

If you don't want to deal with Windows Updates, switch to a different operating system or don't use a computer at all.

Unhook your computer from your internet and keep it that way forever. That will stop any updating from going on, and keep your system safe.

Giving you any other advice is willfully negligent, or even complicit behavior. It'd be like handing a sledgehammer to someone determined to destroy his car.

Not helpful.

At my work we have frozen our Windows versions for 6 months now and are looking at going on this way for another three to six months. But we use and develop custom software in addition to being on our own network and behind professional firewalls/AV/proxies. There's more danger to us of lost billable hours due to frequent updates that break things for the whole office than of us downloading something sketchy and losing a computer.

You can try these but if 'Active Directory' and 'WSUS' are foreign phrases to you there may be a significant learning curve.

Spoiler: Links

Show

https://community.spiceworks.com/how...uide-trainings
https://community.spiceworks.com/how...a-group-policy
https://community.spiceworks.com/top...rom_forum=5568

Will this work with Windows 10 Home or just Pro and Server?

[Silfir]

Not helpful.

I certainly hope so! I'm not in the habit of assisting people in self-destructive behavior. Knowingly, at least.

[Grek]

If Bohandas wants to disable Windows Update, let them disable Windows Update. Heck, if Bohandas wants to hit their computer with a hammer, it's their computer and they can smash it if they want to. That's what it means to own something: that you can do what you like, even if other people think you are making a mistake.

Consumers don't exist for the benefit of the corporation. They do as they please. Corporations do not exist for the benefit of the consumer. They do whatever makes money. Sometimes, these line up and the corporation makes money by making something consumers want. Sometimes their interests don't line up and the corporation starts treating the consumer as an obstacle between then and the (consumer's) money, as a thing that needs to be tricked or cajoled or forced into doing what the corporation wants. You don't get to call someone an idiot because they recognize and resent that they're being forced to do something they wouldn't voluntarily do. You don't get to say that someone is 'self-destructive' because they make an informed choice to refuse to take what the company is offering. It's their choice to make. Not Microsoft's. And definitely not yours.

[Silfir]

You don't get to say that someone is 'self-destructive' because they make an informed choice to refuse to take what the company is offering.

If what the company is offering is critical security updates, yes I can. I'm not at all disputing that people have the freedom to act in a self-destructive manner, but they aren't entitled to having their choices validated, and I quite hope I'm allowed to call it "self-destructive" if that's what it is.

I'm not sure how Microsoft's benefit enters into the discussion - while Microsoft doesn't want to see their users' PCs getting hacked (bad publicity), wouldn't you assume their users want to get hacked even less?

[Chen]

If someone's informed choice is that seatbelts are uncomfortable and thus they dont wear them, Im comfortable calling them an idiot. The same goes for assinine reasons not to update your OS when there are risks to not only themselves but others (due to botnets and the like). You are certainly correct in that we have no rights to force someone to do something in regards to this and it is their choice. But there is no right to not be criticized for the choices people make.

[137beth]

Switch to Linux Mint? If you use Classic Shell you’ll probably like the Cinnamon Desktop Environment, and updates on Linux are non-disruptive. Otherwise, you’re stuck with Windows Update.

[Bohandas]

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” -C.S.Lewis

[Gnoman]

If Bohandas wants to disable Windows Update, let them disable Windows Update. Heck, if Bohandas wants to hit their computer with a hammer, it's their computer and they can smash it if they want to. That's what it means to own something: that you can do what you like, even if other people think you are making a mistake.

Consumers don't exist for the benefit of the corporation. They do as they please. Corporations do not exist for the benefit of the consumer. They do whatever makes money. Sometimes, these line up and the corporation makes money by making something consumers want. Sometimes their interests don't line up and the corporation starts treating the consumer as an obstacle between then and the (consumer's) money, as a thing that needs to be tricked or cajoled or forced into doing what the corporation wants. You don't get to call someone an idiot because they recognize and resent that they're being forced to do something they wouldn't voluntarily do. You don't get to say that someone is 'self-destructive' because they make an informed choice to refuse to take what the company is offering. It's their choice to make. Not Microsoft's. And definitely not yours.

Wrong. The primary propagators of all forms of malware are infected computers, and this network is also used for distributing "zero-day" attacks against newly discovered vulnerabilities that may not be patched yet. Somebody's refusal to update their Windows directly increases the risk posed to my Windows installation, just as anti-vaxxers took Measles and Polio from the brink of extinction to increasingly common threats in developed countries.

[Silfir]

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” -C.S.Lewis

So... Installed Linux yet?

[Bohandas]

If what the company is offering is critical security updates, yes I can. I'm not at all disputing that people have the freedom to act in a self-destructive manner, but they aren't entitled to having their choices validated

Then why say anything at all?

[Bohandas]

So... Installed Linux yet?

No, but this will be the last time I buy a windows computer

[snowblizz]

Wrong. The primary propagators of all forms of malware are infected computers, and this network is also used for distributing "zero-day" attacks against newly discovered vulnerabilities that may not be patched yet. Somebody's refusal to update their Windows directly increases the risk posed to my Windows installation, just as anti-vaxxers took Measles and Polio from the brink of extinction to increasingly common threats in developed countries.

Very much this.

I've had one of my computers hacked, it was my ISP cutting me off due to "undue traffic outwards" that caught it, and I still to this day can't say for sure how and why it happened. The experience is close to indetity theft.

I've also been part of the collateral damage when my current ISP was subject to a DOS attack (the two incidents are unrelated).

An unupdated Windows computer is not like driving without a seatbelt. It's like driving drunk. You recklessly endanger other people for silly selfish reasons.

[Silfir]

Then why say anything at all?

Like Gnoman points out, unsafe computers are unsafe for everyone, not just you. The fewer people get it in their head to sabotage their Windows installations, the better for everyone.

[Bohandas]

If it were possible to download security updates only, or to reliably uninstall non-security updates, I'd gladly do that. For some reason howeve5 that option was removed in windows 10 (and furthermore I can't think of any non-sinister reason for this change to have been made.

If any of you know a hack that will let me download security updates only I'd love to hear it.