I haven't run windows since 2019. However I need to boot my old drive to grab some data. I really need to make sure this system doesn't update any windows components, but I'll need it to have internet access for a portion of the time.
On a different system, I used to have two reg keys that I would run to disable or enable updates when I found that disabling the services only worked until the watchdog would re enable them. Those resulted in updates saying something was wrong, which is perfect by me.
Now that web searches for stuff like this are all AI-gen'd SEO BS, can anyone tell me or point me to a reliable resource for truly disabling updates on Win 10?
PS - Bonus points if Anyone can link me to the page I used a few years back that had all sorts of privacy enhancing and telemetry disabling option on the left side and would create a reg file for applying those changes on the right. It might have been a purple theme, I forget.
Edit: it may also have been a "services" command that fully disabled services from CLI where the GUI says access denied. I forget.
Edit 2: I got the updates services disabled via registry. Thanks to those who refreshed my old Windows admin memory. I dumped Windows on my personal systems years ago, and haven't had to think about this for a while. It's a shame when the operating system changes to this model of SaaS where they call all the shots. I want security updates, but not bleeding edge drivers, candy crush, "feature enhancements", random unexpected reboots, etc. I miss when the update feature didn't assume nobody in the world could handle manual updates. You know, like sudo apt-get update.
InControl by Steve Gibson allows you to set a specific Windows release version and prevent further feature updates, but does allow security updates:
Also:
God bless Steve Gibson! Security Now! I used Spinrite back in 92. I've used his other utilities (when they were relevant), and ShieldsUP too. That man is a treasure. Thanks for the link. I know he gets it.
On second thought, while this is great, I need to block all updates in this PC.
Yeah, I started listening to the podcast a couple years ago, and based on that I'd trust Steve's opinion on basically everything related to computers & networking - largely because I know he'd be able to explain in detail why he has that opinion.
I was thinking boot from a different media and access the file system. But the moment I saw Steve Gibson had a different way I felt like my option was stupid. That is the power of Steve Gibson.
Steve is one of those guys that has done so much with computers that if you have a problem it's highly likely that he's already dealt with that problem too and has a solution or workaround, or knows where to find one.