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Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 11:19 am
by technodevotee
Like others, I haven't had any luck getting any version of WMC to start on Windows 10 after insider build 18958 - there is an issue reported with kernelbase.dll which may possibly be insurmountable.

So I installed 1903 on the last of my PCs a few days ago and used gpedit to delay upgrades for a year in the hope that MS have broken products other than WMC and undo whatever it is before the final release of the next version.

I'm consider something like stopupdates in case that isn't enough.

Anyone have any experience with that?

Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 3:21 pm
by StinkyImp
technodevotee wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2019 11:19 amI'm consider something like stopupdates in case that isn't enough.
Anyone have any experience with that?
If you're asking about StopUpdates10, I've been using it for well over a year. So far I haven't had any updates and I haven't noticed any degradation of my Win10 system. Everything seems to work perfectly.

I use Windows Defender and it receives definition updates like clockwork. :D

Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 5:17 pm
by technodevotee
perfect thanks.

Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 5:45 pm
by StinkyImp
Just a side note... My Win10 machine is a production machine that I don't want any updates messing up. I do not run WMC on it. I have a dedicated Win7 machine for that.

Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:36 pm
by technodevotee
Thanks, installed stopupdates10 on one of my test PCs and it seems to work so far.

Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:47 pm
by DavidinCT
You could always disable the Windows update service... It stops it from updating..

Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 3:42 pm
by StinkyImp
DavidinCT wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:47 pm You could always disable the Windows update service... It stops it from updating..
From the StopUpdates10 author:

You think you just need to stop Windows update service and create some special registry keys.

Microsoft prevents disabling Windows updates using several methods:
  • Special scheduled task (USOClient,Windows10Upgrade, UpdateAssistant).
  • Hidden service "WAAS Medic".
At one point I disabled the update service (as you've suggested) and within a month I had to go through an unwanted update. I unpacked the "portable" version of StopUpdates10 in late April 2018 and I haven't had an update since.

EDIT: I just checked and I'm still running version 1709 build 16299 which reached "End of Service" in August 2018.

Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:27 pm
by SpencerC
StinkyImp wrote: Sun Sep 08, 2019 3:42 pm
DavidinCT wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:47 pm You could always disable the Windows update service... It stops it from updating..
From the StopUpdates10 author:

You think you just need to stop Windows update service and create some special registry keys.

Microsoft prevents disabling Windows updates using several methods:
  • Special scheduled task (USOClient,Windows10Upgrade, UpdateAssistant).
  • Hidden service "WAAS Medic".
At one point I disabled the update service (as you've suggested) and within a month I had to go through an unwanted update. I unpacked the "portable" version of StopUpdates10 in late April 2018 and I haven't had an update since.

EDIT: I just checked and I'm still running version 1709 build 16299 which reached "End of Service" in August 2018.

Yup disabling the windows update service is not sufficient. I still got updated. Pissed me off.

Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 4:13 pm
by scott750
If we use Stopupdates10, can we still pick and choose which updates to install? Like needed security updates?

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Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2019 7:56 am
by technodevotee
You would need to go to the Microsoft Update Catalogue to download them and install them manually.

Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2019 3:46 pm
by scott750
Ok thanks

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Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 3:34 pm
by StinkyImp
I noticed this interesting snippet on a developer's forum that was responding to a user's experience with items failing after a particular Win 10 update...

Dated October 28th (3 days ago)
Reading the original post again I noticed the mention of "MS patch 1803". The 1803 number suggests the problem appeared after Windows 10 feature update 1803 and may, therefore, be a Windows 10 issue and have nothing to do with Windows 2012. Windows 10 feature updates are notorious for causing hardware issues. We had to junk a workstation because the 1803 feature update was incompatible with the CPU/motherboard on the system even though the system was only a couple of years old at the time. (The workstations manufacturer confirmed that this was the case.)
One more reason I'm glad I'm using StopUpdates10...

Re: Time to lock down Windows Updates once and for all?

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:37 pm
by technodevotee
My laptops have trouble connecting to WI-FI when they come out of sleep since an update was applied and the only cure is to shut them down and restart them. A friend of mine has exactly the same problem. As usual, the internet is full of people complaining about these kind of problems caused by Microsoft constantly 'improving' things that used to work but they either refuse to acknowledge the problem at all or just troll out their line that it only affects a small number of people.

It was so much easier back in the day when you could block or selectively install updates at your convenience.

I'm actually rather glad that this is just a hobby for me now and not my day job.