Windows Update: How To *Really* Kill It?

I *always* specify the "Don't do anything without asking..." option...
but Windows keeps on burning me.

Today it was a power outage.

Power went out, UPS kicked in, I shut down Windows... "Please wait while
we install 47 updates.... and do not turn off the PC...."

I just went into Services and set WindowsUpdate service's
Startup=Manual.

Will that do it, or should I set it to Disabled?

Other Services?
--
Pete Cresswell

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
I *always* specify the "Don't do anything without asking..." option...
but Windows keeps on burning me.

Today it was a power outage.

Power went out, UPS kicked in, I shut down Windows... "Please wait while
we install 47 updates.... and do not turn off the PC...."

I just went into Services and set WindowsUpdate service's
Startup=Manual.

Will that do it, or should I set it to Disabled?

Other Services?

This is really a question like "bomb disposal" :-)
How many things have to be disabled ? Could a
"friend of Windows Update" turn it back on ?
Do I cut the red wire or the blue wire ? :-)

I would disable it and see what happens.

Don't be surprised though, if there is still some
"local scanning" going on, even if your machine
has stopped accessing Microsoft over the net. There
could be a trustedinstaller process or service of
some sort, that "looks at your packages" all the time.
(tiworker ?)

I'm not convinced they'd design it with a single
kill switch. If the WU control panel doesn't
give absolute control, why would they even implement
a single kill switch in their architecture ? You have
to assume multiple switches, "levels of access" and so on.
Like, if they want to "push out an emergency update",
I'm sure there's a way to do that without Windows Update
turned on.

And while you could buttress your mod by entering
a line in the HOSTS file, what are the odds they
limit themselves to just one symbolic address ?
Again, "once evil software is inside your machine"
you've lost control. "They control the horizontal and
the vertical." I would use Wireshark, note what network
addresses get accessed when you do a WU session. Blocking
the transport phase is likely impossible (multiple CDN
addresses). Only if the control phase uses a single
address, could you throw a single additional line
into the HOSTS file and try and block it.

Paul

On Thu, 07 May 2015 18:27:54 -0400, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:

I *always* specify the "Don't do anything without asking..." option...
but Windows keeps on burning me.

Today it was a power outage.

Power went out, UPS kicked in, I shut down Windows... "Please wait while
we install 47 updates.... and do not turn off the PC...."

I just went into Services and set WindowsUpdate service's
Startup=Manual.

Will that do it, or should I set it to Disabled?

Other Services?


I'm not sure how you get yourself into such a situation more than once, but
here's a link to three ways to shut down without installing updates. Google
has tons more, in case these don't work.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/three-tricks-shutting-down-your-windows-7-pc-without-having-install-updates.htm


--

Char Jackson

On 5/7/2015 3:27 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
I *always* specify the "Don't do anything without asking..." option...
but Windows keeps on burning me.

Today it was a power outage.

Power went out, UPS kicked in, I shut down Windows... "Please wait while
we install 47 updates.... and do not turn off the PC...."

I just went into Services and set WindowsUpdate service's
Startup=Manual.

Will that do it, or should I set it to Disabled?

Other Services?


Even with updates disabled, updates to the Windows Update software
itself cannot be blocked. Also, if no other "optional" updates are
waiting, updates to the virus definitions in Windows Security Essentials
are not blocked.

--
David E. Ross

Why do we tolerate political leaders who
spend more time belittling hungry children
than they do trying to fix the problem of
hunger? http://mazon.org/

On Thu, 07 May 2015 18:27:54 -0400, (PeteCresswell) wrote:

I *always* specify the "Don't do anything without asking..." option...
but Windows keeps on burning me.

Today it was a power outage.

Power went out, UPS kicked in, I shut down Windows... "Please wait while
we install 47 updates.... and do not turn off the PC...."

I just went into Services and set WindowsUpdate service's
Startup=Manual.

Will that do it, or should I set it to Disabled?

Other Services?

I don't know how windows does it, but I would be surprised if shutting off
the machine would be fatal. The updates complete when you next turn on the
machine.

PeteCresswell wrote:

I *always* specify the "Don't do anything without asking..." option...
but Windows keeps on burning me.

Today it was a power outage.

Power went out, UPS kicked in, I shut down Windows... "Please wait while
we install 47 updates.... and do not turn off the PC...."

I just went into Services and set WindowsUpdate service's
Startup=Manual.

Will that do it, or should I set it to Disabled?

Other Services?

Don't know what is "Don't do anything without asking option". The
choices a

- Install updates automatically (recommended) *
- Download updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.
- Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.
- Never check for updates (not recommended).

* Recommended only by Microsoft so they can own your hardware by
changing its state whenever they want.

I use the 3rd setting (check only). I would suggest NOT using the 2nd
option. Once the updates are downloaded, I've seen where Windows will
apply them although that option says it is your choice. You could use
the 4th choice and have AU never check for updates. Instead you could
set a reminder to yourself to have YOU check for updates, like 2 weeks
after Patch Tuesday (2nd Tuesday of the month). Then you could check
what others have encountered with the new load of updates.

Setting the AU service to Manual startup mode may interfere with other
Microsoft products that use the AU service to get their own separate
updates. For example, even if the WU client is set to "check for
updates", MSE will still check for updates using the AU service to get
its sig updates. Setting to Manual mode means the service will not
start unless some process calls for it. So if someone that you allow to
use your computer does a manual check then this service will start.

At this point, and if you don't want those updates, you could revert to
a restore point that the update created before they got applied.

You can go into the add/remove programs applet in Control Panel, elect
to show updates, and sort by date to see which updates were the last
ones applied.

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
I *always* specify the "Don't do anything without asking..." option...
but Windows keeps on burning me.

Today it was a power outage.

Power went out, UPS kicked in, I shut down Windows... "Please wait while
we install 47 updates.... and do not turn off the PC...."

I just went into Services and set WindowsUpdate service's
Startup=Manual.

Will that do it, or should I set it to Disabled?

Other Services?


If WU was configured to notify before download *and* install, then those
47 updates were already in the cue waiting to be installed.

Didn't you have a prior issue with Windows Updates functionality ?

If you were at the screen 'Please wait...' how did you manage to bypass
that screen, load Windows and then access Services.



--
...winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On Thu, 07 May 2015 18:27:54 -0400, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

I *always* specify the "Don't do anything without asking..." option...
but Windows keeps on burning me.

Today it was a power outage.

Power went out, UPS kicked in, I shut down Windows... "Please wait while
we install 47 updates.... and do not turn off the PC...."

I just went into Services and set WindowsUpdate service's
Startup=Manual.

Will that do it, or should I set it to Disabled?

Other Services?


I set to "disabled" the following services:
Background Intelligent Transfer Service
Windows Installer
Windows Update
(If already running, I select Stop)

When I am ready to check for available updates, I set these to
"manual" and then Start. After any updates I approve have been
installed, reboots done, etc., I go back and Stop the above services
and reset them to Disabled.

Note that if the Windows Installer service is stopped, Windows Update
will not show any available or previously installed updates when you
go there from Control Panel.

-dan z-



--
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Per . . .winston:

Didn't you have a prior issue with Windows Updates functionality ?

Yes - several times. And I do not think I am the only one. One of those
times a VAIO laptop became unusable for quite a few weeks coincident
with an interrupted Windows Update. Can't recall why the interruption
and can't recall how/why/when it came back... but it was definitely gone
for a number of weeks.


If you were at the screen 'Please wait...' how did you manage to bypass
that screen, load Windows and then access Services.

I didn't. The UPS' battery drained while Windows Update was doing it's
thing and the machine was effectively shut down by pulling the plug.

Then, once the generator power came on, the machine re-booted itself
(per BIOS settings) and I did what I did.


--
Pete Cresswell