Microsoft Releases Tool To Block Unwanted Windows 10 Updates

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It looks as though Microsoft is backtracking a bit on forcing updates on Windows 10 users.

Windows 10 testers who've complained about mandatory updates in Microsoft's new operating system might have a solution at hand. The tool, available as an optional download, lets you hide or block any update for Windows or a hardware driver.
 
I have no problem with forced security updates however drives was an issue.
 
Freebo said:
I have no problem with forced security updates however drives was an issue.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

I love driver downloads at install just to get stuff working but after that let me get mfg drivers. An auto update where you could decide sources would be nice.
 
Yay, pretty much my only complaint about 10 at this point was the fact of the super convoluted way to not have it auto download drivers.
 
Steve said:
It looks as though Microsoft is backtracking a bit on forcing updates on Windows 10 users.

Windows 10 testers who've complained about mandatory updates in Microsoft's new operating system might have a solution at hand. The tool, available as an optional download, lets you hide or block any update for Windows or a hardware driver.
Click to expand...

How does this tool help if an update renders the operating system unbootable?

Fuck Microsoft and their fascist policies.
 
I don't usually have to worry about blocking updates, but There have been times where MS would release a patch (not a driver) that broke something. Last time it was the connector software for Windows 2012 Server Essentials R2. It caused me to not be able to backup my system to my server anymore. I had to roll back that patch and block it.

I'm glad there is a way to still do this.
 
griffinhart said:
There have been times where MS would release a patch (not a driver) that broke something.
Click to expand...

Precisely. I don't think any reasonable person had a problem with forced or auto updates in theory. The problem is with the idea of Microsoft managing them. And this is why.
 
damicatz said:
How does this tool help if an update renders the operating system unbootable?

Fuck Microsoft and their fascist policies.
Click to expand...

Even a update one allows could do that which is the point of System Restore which seems to off by default in Windows 10 which is odd. I think it's been turned in on in previous versions of Windows by default and it's on on my SP3 with 10, guess I must have done that manually. It eats up some space but that can be recovered after updating. It's been a life saver for me.
 
heatlesssun said:
Even a update one allows could do that which is the point of System Restore which seems to off by default in Windows 10 which is odd. I think it's been turned in on in previous versions of Windows by default and it's on on my SP3 with 10, guess I must have done that manually. It eats up some space but that can be recovered after updating. It's been a life saver for me.
Click to expand...

The difference is, I always check the news before applying any updates to make sure that they don't break anything.

And forced driver updates is a disaster.
 
damicatz said:
The difference is, I always check the news before applying any updates to make sure that they don't break anything.

And forced driver updates is a disaster.
Click to expand...

The updates should have a star rating and comments next to each one lol
 
Good, is there a tool to turn off that damn windows 10 available notification?
 
Here's my Win 10 Notifier Removal Tool,

wusa /uninstall /kb:3035583 /quiet /promptrestart
 
damicatz said:
How does this tool help if an update renders the operating system unbootable?

Fuck Microsoft and their fascist policies.
Click to expand...
You fucking commie Microsoft is doing a capitalist policy you have to buy pro to make updates optional. Under the "Updates for business" banner, which pro gets.
rewted said:
Good, is there a tool to turn off that damn windows 10 available notification?
Click to expand...
You just uninstall a windows update KB3035583
 
Darunion said:
Agreed.

I love driver downloads at install just to get stuff working but after that let me get mfg drivers. An auto update where you could decide sources would be nice.
Click to expand...
Sometimes MS driver updates fix issues, other times they cause issues. Usually I update manufacturer's drivers and the MS update goes away, but recently there's one for Razer, and after updating the official driver, the MS update returns. What a pain.
 
damicatz said:
Pro still has forced updates...
Click to expand...
No, it doesn't. But it does have consequences for avoiding feature updates (CBB branch users): even security updates will no longer be provided after 8 months or so. We'll probably see a resurgence in 3rd party tools to bundle or manage updates for users who do not wish to have crap forced down their throat simply because it aligns with useless MS strategies du jour.

You can defer all Windows 10 Pro updates if you wish, but that's not what most people want from the option to control update installation. As MS has shown the last few months, it's not above mis-prioritizing updates or failing to give any indication of that it actually does. That's not even counting the number of broken updates its released in the past year. There are good reasons to avoid some updates temporarily or permanently, but MS barely seems to understand why (despite releasing this tool). It's ridiculous.
 
Semantics said:
You fucking commie Microsoft is doing a capitalist policy you have to buy pro to make updates optional. Under the "Updates for business" banner, which pro gets.
You just uninstall a windows update KB3035583
Click to expand...

Updates for business does not allow you to permanently opt out of updates.

And capitalism and fascism are not mutually exclusive.
 
Semantics said:
You fucking commie Microsoft is doing a capitalist policy you have to buy pro to make updates optional. Under the "Updates for business" banner, which pro gets.
Click to expand...
CB for Business only allows deferral of updates for up to 8 months. You're still forced to update unless you want to be forced into the LTSB after 8 months to continue receiving critical and security updates.
 
From what I can tell, it appears this "fix" from MS doesn't actually prevent the updates from being installed in the first place. What it does is allow you to prevent them from being REINSTALLED after you UNINSTALL the update or driver that screwed up your system. You still don't get pre-emptive control. As long as Windows 10 is going to try installing video drivers without my say-so, it's not going on my system. Period.
 
Semantics said:
You fucking commie Microsoft is doing a capitalist policy you have to buy pro to make updates optional. Under the "Updates for business" banner, which pro gets.
You just uninstall a windows update KB3035583
Click to expand...

Thanks, I was far too lazy to look it up.. just a stupid thing to even have to deal with, heh.
 
The latest update to 10 borked the updater. I had to uninstall and then install again to get it to work correctly.
10 also decided I needed a newer version of nvidia drivers so it downloaded and install the full package.
I generally just install the core driver and phys-x, I don' t need the other stuff.

I am running pro, I want control like in 7 in which 3rd party drivers are tagged optional.
 
What they really need is 2 settings for what is automatically installed.

What type of updates to install:
1. All (default setting)
2. Drivers, security updates
3. Security updates only

When to install
1. Daily (default setting)
2. Once a week.
3. Wait 30 days before installing.

I'd be fine with forced security updates installing after 30 days, since I'd would likely install them manually well before then. I prefer to install updates when I want to install them (and have time to recover from a bad update), not when I'm in the middle of a project and need my system.
 
And the likely results of this forced update, will be that many people will end up NOT getting updates.

I'm sure there will be hacks out there (like modifying the host table) that will block windows 10 from seeing the updates. First time someone has a problem (or just gets tired of the daily updates) they will search the web and install the hack. People will then forget they installed it and won't switch back to get the updates, so we will again have millions of un-updated boxes ion the net.
 
I'm starting to notice a pattern here:

1) You will use it the way we want you to!
2) Ok, you're outraged? Here's half of what you want.
3) Ok, you're not going to buy our product if we don't change it? Wait.
4) Ok, you're not buying our product, we will change it, eventually.

Not a smart way of doing business, if you ask me.
 
dewbak75 said:
From what I can tell, it appears this "fix" from MS doesn't actually prevent the updates from being installed in the first place. What it does is allow you to prevent them from being REINSTALLED after you UNINSTALL the update or driver that screwed up your system. You still don't get pre-emptive control. As long as Windows 10 is going to try installing video drivers without my say-so, it's not going on my system. Period.
Click to expand...

That's not how it works from my experience this evening. There was an updated released just a few hours ago, KB3074683. I ran this tool and it did list this as an update to block before I checked for updates. I blocked it and sure enough it didn't show up. I unblocked it, checked for updates and then it showed up.

With this tool, the ability to block driver updates, assuming that still works as it has in the past, it's still in Windows 10 though I've not tried it yet in 10 and I've heard different accounts of it's effectiveness and System Restore, someone who knows what they are doing should have too many problems. And I think that's a issue. Sure there are times when the average user might need to block or delay an update but it shouldn't be a routine matter no something they need to do tons of research over each and every update.

The best solution for average people would be to have a solid way to go back in case of problems, which is what System Restore is for and THEN refuse the update in case of problems. Which is kind of what this tool does if System Restore is on. System Restore is not on by default in 10 this far and it's a life saver though it can eat up disk space if the restore points and deleted.

All the tools to manage this well for average people are there but there's no single UI to manage it all, that would help a great. deal.
 
heatlesssun said:
That's not how it works from my experience this evening. There was an updated released just a few hours ago, KB3074683. I ran this tool and it did list this as an update to block before I checked for updates. I blocked it and sure enough it didn't show up. I unblocked it, checked for updates and then it showed up.

With this tool, the ability to block driver updates, assuming that still works as it has in the past, it's still in Windows 10 though I've not tried it yet in 10 and I've heard different accounts of it's effectiveness and System Restore, someone who knows what they are doing should have too many problems. And I think that's a issue. Sure there are times when the average user might need to block or delay an update but it shouldn't be a routine matter no something they need to do tons of research over each and every update.

The best solution for average people would be to have a solid way to go back in case of problems, which is what System Restore is for and THEN refuse the update in case of problems. Which is kind of what this tool does if System Restore is on. System Restore is not on by default in 10 this far and it's a life saver though it can eat up disk space if the restore points and deleted.

All the tools to manage this well for average people are there but there's no single UI to manage it all, that would help a great. deal.
Click to expand...

Why should I have to constantly babysit Windows by running this tool in the hopes I catch an update before it gets automatically applied? I want a computer that works, not one that could randomly break at any moment because Windows applied an update without my consent.

This update system is going to kill off Windows. Businesses won't tolerate this nonsense of having their LOB apps break every few months because Microsoft's latest patch broke something (and most businesses don't have access to enterprise edition).

At this point, Windows is more trouble than Linux. At least with Linux, it only does what I tell it to and not what Microsoft thinks is best.
 
damicatz said:
Why should I have to constantly babysit Windows by running this tool in the hopes I catch an update before it gets automatically applied? I want a computer that works, not one that could randomly break at any moment because Windows applied an update without my consent.
Click to expand...

How many times does a Windows computer get updated without the person thinking about it and nothing breaking?

damicatz said:
At this point, Windows is more trouble than Linux. At least with Linux, it only does what I tell it to and not what Microsoft thinks is best.
Click to expand...

As you point out, most people want a computer that works and doesn't want to have to think about software patching. Of course stuff happens but the average computer user isn't wanting to babysit every update either. Patching should be as seamless as possible but tools need to be there as well in case things do go south.
 
heatlesssun said:
How many times does a Windows computer get updated without the person thinking about it and nothing breaking?
Click to expand...

Tell that to someone whose computer begins to bluescreen on every reboot after receiving a driver update they didn't need or ask for, and see if they care.
 
DPI said:
Tell that to someone whose computer begins to bluescreen on every reboot after receiving a driver update they didn't need or ask for, and see if they care.
Click to expand...

This, along with the attempt to make computing more like a phone will be the death of Microsoft's OS. They don't seem to get that the people using a PC use it for PC like tasks, and not as a phone. Instead of solidifying their market they're destined to straggle it themselves. I'm sure Google & Apple are very pleased with MS.
 
heatlesssun said:
That's not how it works from my experience this evening. There was an updated released just a few hours ago, KB3074683. I ran this tool and it did list this as an update to block before I checked for updates. I blocked it and sure enough it didn't show up. I unblocked it, checked for updates and then it showed up.

With this tool, the ability to block driver updates, assuming that still works as it has in the past, it's still in Windows 10 though I've not tried it yet in 10 and I've heard different accounts of it's effectiveness and System Restore, someone who knows what they are doing should have too many problems. And I think that's a issue. Sure there are times when the average user might need to block or delay an update but it shouldn't be a routine matter no something they need to do tons of research over each and every update.

The best solution for average people would be to have a solid way to go back in case of problems, which is what System Restore is for and THEN refuse the update in case of problems. Which is kind of what this tool does if System Restore is on. System Restore is not on by default in 10 this far and it's a life saver though it can eat up disk space if the restore points and deleted.

All the tools to manage this well for average people are there but there's no single UI to manage it all, that would help a great. deal.
Click to expand...

From what you describe, you had to run the tool to look for newly released updates, catch them before Windows auto-installed them, and block them from being auto-installed. That's still a really crappy way to set it up. "If you can catch us before we potentially b0rk your computer" is a poor way to set up Windows Update. If the user wants to configure updates to install automatically, fine. But it should be the user's choice what gets put on the system. It's their f'ing hard drive, after all.

It's the device driver part of this that really chaps my ass. This isn't even Microsoft's code, why the hell are they forcing it down our throats? Didn't this get renewed attention over the last few days because a flawed Nvidia driver got force-fed to Win10 users, and it started causing trouble for people?
 
heatlesssun said:
How many times does a Windows computer get updated without the person thinking about it and nothing breaking?
Click to expand...

On my computer, never. I monitor all updates and manually install them as I deem appropriate.

In addition, we aren't just talking about security updates anymore but whatever new "features" and drivers Microsoft want to shove down your throat.

Again, businesses will not tolerate having their LOB applications breaking every 6 months because Microsoft decided to force some new features on Windows that breaks shit.

As you point out, most people want a computer that works and doesn't want to have to think about software patching. Of course stuff happens but the average computer user isn't wanting to babysit every update either. Patching should be as seamless as possible but tools need to be there as well in case things do go south.
Click to expand...

The average computer user doesn't want to have their computer suddenly stop working because Windows installed a driver that broke shit.
 
damicatz said:
On my computer, never. I monitor all updates and manually install them as I deem appropriate.

In addition, we aren't just talking about security updates anymore but whatever new "features" and drivers Microsoft want to shove down your throat.

Again, businesses will not tolerate having their LOB applications breaking every 6 months because Microsoft decided to force some new features on Windows that breaks shit.

The average computer user doesn't want to have their computer suddenly stop working because Windows installed a driver that broke shit.
Click to expand...

Thanks for typing my thoughts out for me.
I've used everything from 3.11 though KDE 3/4, Gnome, Xfce, screen+bash, to Windows 8.1. Also was appointed to perform the occasional users training at work on some of the above.

8 was enough, 8.1 with the start button taking you to the mobile interface was a punch in the face. 10? I don't even care anymore. Enough is enough.

Currently researching other ways to, well, run my software to do actual work and enjoy some multimedia.

I'm looking at you too, Mozilla. They're both equivalent to a hammer factory shifting a third of its manpower to put glitter on the handles.
 
DPI said:
Precisely. I don't think any reasonable person had a problem with forced or auto updates in theory. The problem is with the idea of Microsoft managing them. And this is why.
Click to expand...

I do. Like I really want the Bing Toolbar. And some other Torjan shit they've tried in the past. Stuff that was glorified excuse to make you click EULA revisions.

Even the windows 10 update offer System tray icon was not in the system tray of two PC's until I installed 9 updates clearly defined as 'security updates'.

Yeah I want to give up control of Windows Updates completely. Not.
 
jpm100 said:
I do. Like I really want the Bing Toolbar. And some other Torjan shit they've tried in the past. Stuff that was glorified excuse to make you click EULA revisions.

Even the windows 10 update offer System tray icon was not in the system tray of two PC's until I installed 9 updates clearly defined as 'security updates'.

Yeah I want to give up control of Windows Updates completely. Not.
Click to expand...

I'm with you.


There is a lot of mixed back and forth at this point... I need a link or some kind of guide to get me ready for this before it hits. I'm not against updating to 10... I just may not do it right away. I certainly do it within that one year parameter.

How do I maintain some kind of control over this thing? I don't want to install drivers and such, either, without my input.

Thanks.
 
The best part is that Windoze 10 does not seem to care what you are doing when it decides to do the forced updates.

Nothing like having a game crash because Windoze decided to update your video card drive in the middle of playing.
 
Well no Windows 10 for me until I have total control over which updates I install and which I do not. Just like in Windows 7. Going to be on 7 for a very long time it seems.
 
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