[vezycash]

Turn off the update service. And there's three settings to make sure it doesn't reactivate itself. I held of updates for two years.

Long story short: you can still decide when you want to update Windows - 10 steps instead of one.

[yellowapple]

> Turn off the update service.

That seems risky security-wise.

I'll just stick to my Linux machines, which update without bringing me down for half an hour.

[walterbell]

Does that work on all versions of Windows 10?

[vezycash]

Yes it does.

Detailed Steps:

Open Computer Management

After disabling the Windows Update service in the Computer Management Console, click on the Recovery Tab. There, turn first three options to "Take No Action." Else, the service will reactivate itself after a while.

This way, you control when you want to update.

Note: If you use Defender, manually turn on the Update Service when you want to update the definitions.

[walterbell]

Thanks! Defender updates can be downloaded separately and installed as a standalone executable.