Are you annoyed about having to make forced automatic updates on Windows 10, often at the most inappropriate times? Then, Wu10Man could be just the solution for you. It is a Windows 10 Update manager and an open-source tool that prevents automatic Windows 10 updates from taking place without your active consent. This Windows Update Blocker software does this by configuring the Group Policy, disabling some Services, and blocking URLs.
Wu10Man stops Automatic Windows Updates
How it works
Using Wu10Man is pretty easy. It doesn’t need much learning. It works as follows:
- Configuring group policy
- Disabling services
- Blocking URLs
- Pausing Windows Updates.
You will need administrator access to run this application, as you be writing to the Registry, altering Services, and changing the Hosts file. But once you have such access, you can stop automatic updates on your system through any of the following options:
1] Configuring Group Policy
The most important feature of this tool is the capability to disable Windows 10 services that send you routine updates, such as Windows Update Service, Windows Module Installer, and Windows Update Medic Service. And just in case Windows turns this right back on, a useful tip is that you could also rename a service file after you disable it through this app. As of now, configuring group policy is possible through four options:
- Enable Automatic Updates,
- Disable Automatic Updates,
- Notify of Download and Installation, and
- Automatic Download – Notify of Installation.
2] Disabling Services
Like in the older version of Windows, this option allows you to disable automatic updates. It manages this by allowing you to simply download updates, and then receive notifications before any installation. In fact, this is not new functionality, it simply uses a feature that has already been built into Windows. That is why it works on versions of Windows that support the Pause/Defer option.
3] Blocking URLs
Wu10Man has identified several URLs that are already blocked by the tool. In addition, users can also include additional URLs to this list to keep all unwanted system updates at bay. These can even be set either individually or in a group.
4] Pausing Windows Updates
Let us say that you wish to block Windows Updates for a set period of time instead of blocking it permanently. Wu10Man allows you to block both feature updates and quality updates for a preset period of time.
Decluttering Windows installation
Windows systems come with a lot of pre-installed applications. Lately, Windows has been trying to keep the default applications to a set minimum, however, you might still not get to use most of them. Yet, the presence of these surplus applications will burden your system and impact its performance. In such a case, you can disable them using Wu10Man.
While it is still the best solution yet for those trying to pause the automatic updates on Windows 10, the tool is not without drawbacks. For instance, the Group Policy Editor is not yet accessible to Windows 10 Home users. Yet, despite this, it is no surprise that anything that can halt the constant flow of automatic updates is gaining popularity. You can download this amazing software from GitHub.
