![]() ![]() But as best I can tell, it still doesn’t have Microsoft’s official endorsement as a cumulative update prophylactic. If upgrading to Win10 Pro isn’t an option – and I sympathize if you’d rather not hand over another $100 to Microsoft for something that should come standard – your only other reasonable option is to set your internet connection to “metered.” Metered connections are an update-blocking kludge that seems to work to fend off cumulative updates. As Susan Bradley says, “Every version of Windows should be able to defer and pause updates… Microsoft, your customers deserve better than this.” ![]() It’s unconscionable, and it’s been that way since day one. Win10 Home customers by design are Microsoft’s extended beta-plus testing force. Microsoft has no qualms whatsoever in pushing its new, untested (perhaps I should say “less-than-thoroughly-tested”) updates and upgrades onto Windows 10 Home machines. They really should call it Win10 Guinea Pig edition. Microsoft considers Home customers fair game. If there are any real howlers – months where the cumulative updates were irretrievably bad, and never got any better, as they were in July 2018 – we’ll let you know, loud and clear. You don’t need to explicitly save anything. Notably, in February 2019, it took Microsoft 18 days to fix its first-Tuesday bugs. By setting this to 10 or 15 or 20 days, Win10 will update itself after the major screams of pain have subsided and (with some luck) the bad cumulative updates have been pulled or re-issued. (“Quality update” = cumulative update = bug fix.) In my experience, Microsoft usually yanks bad Win10 cumulative updates within a couple of weeks of their initial release. To delay cumulative updates, set the “quality update” deferral to 15 days or so. Don’t leave it up to Microsoft’s “ next generation advanced learning ” algorithm which, presumably, is more advanced than the current generation advanced learning algorithm. Youshould choose when you want to upgrade. If you’re using Win10 1809, it’ll keep Win10 1903 from being pushed on your machine, whenever it’s sent out the automatic update chute. If you’re using Win10 version 1803, that has the added beneficial effect of blocking Microsoft’s forced upgrade to Win10 version 1809. That tells the Windows Updater (unless Microsoft makes another “mistake,” as it has numerous times in the past ) that it should wait until 120 days after a new version is declared ready for broad business deployment before upgrading and re-installing Windows on your machine. To further delay new versions until they’ve been minimally tested, set the “feature update” deferral setting to 120 days or more. ![]() To pull yourself out of beta testing (or, as Microsoft would say, to delay new versions until they’re ready for broad deployment), in the first box, choose Semi-Annual Channel. Microsoft has changed its terminology – there’s no longer a Semi-Annual Channel, and we don’t know when/if Win10 1809 will be declared “ready for widespread use in organizations” – but the tenets remain the same. If you’re using Win10 version 1803 or 1809, you see the settings in the screenshot. On the right, click the link for Advanced options. Using an administrative account, click Start > Settings > Update & Security. If you’re using Win10 Pro version 1709, 1803, or 1809 I recommend an update blocking technique that Microsoft recommends for “Broad Release” in its obscure Build deployment rings for Windows 10 updates – which is intended for admins, but applies to you, too. Verify that you have Important Updates set to "Never check for updates (not recommended)" and click OK. Click the "Change Settings" link on the left. Under Windows Update, click the "Turn automatic updating on or off" link. If you’re using Windows 7 or 8.1, click Start > Control Panel > System and Security. After several hundred such installs, I’m still tickled by the fact that automatic updating was only a recommendation back in the day. I recently installed Windows 7 on a new (refurbished) machine, all the better to witness its ultimate demise in January. But why not let the cannon fodder send back their reports before you offer up your machine to Microsoft’s latest missives? Blocking automatic update on Win7 and 8.1 But you have to ask yourself if the risk is worth the protection. On any given Tuesday your chance of getting zapped are small. Granted, the bugs frequently afflict only small subsets of all Windows users.
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