Auto for Security Intelligence Update only (daily update notifications annoyance) ?

[m-7761]

Maybe this is just a recent thing or I changed a "group policy" but it seems like making Windows Update downloads a manual affair these days can't discriminate between huge multi-gigabyte updates over metered connections, as opposed to daily tiny updates for antivirus stuff... so the end result is everyday a "manual update" notification pops up in my face.

It's getting on my last nerve, and I'm wondering if since Microsoft hasn't considered how annoying this can be, if there's any other way to do selective auto (quiet) updates. It doesn't seem obvious wumgr can do this.

It seems obvious that a daily update for antivirus descriptions should be considered essential or too trivial to disrupt user's life incessantly. I feel like maybe I'm the only person alive using manual downloads. I have satellite internet that's limited to 10GB/mo during daytime/primetime hours, and Windows update has been a prime offender in tanking my data-plan.

[SILENT-da]

Hi,

maybe this workaround shows you a way to a solution. :-)

https://github.com/DavidXanatos/wumgr/issues/113

[m-7761]

Thanks, hmmm, how I ultimately "solved" this was to turn on the "Focus Assist" feature (I found about then) so I would never be bothered by notifications, but this removes that feature from Windows 10. I've disabled it just now to see if Microsoft has had enough complaints (I think I sent one in) to fix this since.

I wasn't super impressed by this software, and I wasn't confident it was working and not conflicting with Windows 10, and I had a feeling it was modifying group policy settings that at one point became a liability because Windows Update was downloading/applying updates in the middle of the day (killing my satellite data plan) after I installed it, so I'm not sure I want to return to using wumgr, especially if it's not well maintained. The UI wasn't great.

[SILENT-da]

I' don't have much hope, that Microsoft is willing to give us back an update-management like we had in Windows 7.. In my opinion Update Manager, 'though it might have some issues, is by far the best tool out there to get back control over updates in Win10 and the closest solution to have it like in Win7, that are the reasons i spent time to get the mentioned workaround done, and it works pretty well on my system in this way: It starts on logon and shows me every new update (despite automated security intelligence/defender updates), and i am able to decide "which" and "when" manually. The alternative i see is to use Microsofts Windows 10 update management, which means almost "no control", and that was never an option for me. I'm using Windows 10 Pro (20H2), also modified some group policies by myself (i.e. configurated automatic windows updates, option 2 "notification before download and installation"), but i can't find any modifications from Update Mananager there.

[m-7761]

I think it needs active maintainers and it needs to identify why people are using it and offer those modes without any complicated setup and UI so we can be confident it will work and not conflict with Windows. Microsoft is always changing Windows Update so the sense is if an alternative isn't keeping up with WU (actively maintained) it might be doing more harm than good, especially if it's not easy to audit, and doubly because messing up updates is a security risk. For me WU seems to work alright except for the fact I can't tell it when to download updates (i.e. between 12 and 5AM when my ISP doesn't count it against my data plan) which seems like a really stupid oversight since so many people in the U.S. don't have always on unmetered Internet service. (Silicon Valley just seems like it can't see beyond its own tiny bubble.)

[SILENT-da]

I understand your point (satellite data plan). The main reason for me wasn't security (as i used Win7 over a year after support ^^), but avoiding system-problems: I don't want to be "the first mouse to get catched by the trap", if you know what i mean. If a new update/KB... comes out, i thirst want to know, if it runs stable, if there are any known issues, before i install it. In combination with that, i read some articles about the point, that it's not easy to handle a messed up update. Many users complain they had to reset the whole system because of a bad update, and that's not how it should be, but i also read about Microsofts background to this: It seems, in the meantime, Microsoft dismissed their whole departments, which were only responsible for testing. If you ask me, Microsoft want to save money, and now we are the Guinea pigs. Maybe an additional or the main reason we lost control over updates.

[m-7761]

(Yeah I probably meant to write "satellite" but I sometime skip words.) Two recent ".Net" updates killed every version of Visual Studio (https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/1323017/unexpected-vs-crash-when-docking-or-splitting-wind.html) so they have to be manually uninstalled. I think I have updates on a delay, but maybe that doesn't work with Home Edition. Windows 10 is generally good but the old Microsoft back-compatibility carefulness has left the building, as a Win32 software maintainer in the past 5yrs basic window stuff (especially around the taskbar and fullscreen detection shenanigans) has been breaking left and right and it's often a year or two before the issues get fixed. The real problem is when we encounter a problem (find a bug) there's not any good channels to lay it at MS's doorstep, so they don't know their rookie programmers are breaking things. I think only if big companies encounter a problem they can phone MS up and get it fixed. I've personally solved like 5 serious bugs by contacting MS employees through their blogs on the relevant team.

The places you can report bugs are staffed by employees (probably in India) who clearly just play games to be able to "Close" issues. Visual Studio's tracker is like this, which is funny since it should have the most competent reporters and MS should treat the people who write Windows' software with more respect.

Edited: For example, for a few years now I have software that when it switches to fullscreen mode the window disappears from the taskbar even though you're looking at it. Sometimes you can't get it to appear on the taskbar, sometimes it randomly comes back. It's just pure jank. Some kid intern broke Windows no doubt.

[Mrnofish]

so the sense is if an alternative isn't keeping up with WU (actively maintained) it might be doing more harm than good, especially if it's not easy to audit, and doubly because messing up updates is a security risk.

As far as I understand this program uses the same API as the Settings app?