The Computer Guy at the 'Heads

One of the problems that Windows 10 users face is the update process. Updates are important but, as we have seen in the past, they can go terribly wrong. Experienced users used to set their Windows Update to ‘check for updates but don’t automatically install them’. Microsoft has made this hard to do if not impossible for most users – but there is a way to delay the updates on any computer.

It isn’t elegant – in other words, why not give us the option to delay the updates until we want to install them? – but it does work. Provided you connect to the internet via WiFi.

Here’s how to do it.

1. Tap the ‘Windows’ key (or click the Start menu) and type in ‘wifi’. Select Change WiFi settings.
2. Click on Manage known networks
3. Click on the WiFi network you are connected to then Properties
4. Under Metered Connection – change this to ‘On’

While you are in the managed networks area and if you connect to other WiFi networks, you can change these to metered connections to if you want.

Now, this won’t stop vital priority updates but will prevent other updates from downloading until you set the WiFi connection back to ‘unmetered’. You can do this every few weeks or so to check for other updates. This way, you regain some control over your computer.

It would be nice if we could do this with computers connected directly to our modems and routers but there doesn’t appear to be any way to do this other than to use Windows 10 Pro which does provide some control over updates.

Andy