Disabling Windows Updates

I have tried repeatedly to shut off Windows updates. I don't want them (XP) and get fed up with that stupid shield in the system tray. When I go to security center and change how Windows notifies me by unchecking the box next to updates, it rechecks itself and then the shield appears in the system tray. How do I shut this @#$@#$ thing off forever?
Thanks...

 

Hi see3ducks.

First let me state clearly that I DO NOT RECOMMEND TURNING OFF WINDOWS UPDATES!

Recieving windows updates regularly is VITAL for the average user, and your security may be at risk if you follow the steps in this post!.


If however, you understand the risks and still want to go ahead with it.



Go to....

Control Panel >> Security Center

At the left hand side you will see an option in blue writing saying... "change the way windows notifies me" click that and untick the applicable boxes.


The go to Automatic updates at the botom of the window and choose the applicable option.

 

I tried all of that. It doesn't work. From what I now read this can be due to Virtumonde which I am dealing with. As far as updates go, I "thought" that MS no longer provided updates to XP. Weird.

 

I believe MS has rwecently stopped supporting XP SP2, if you have SP3 it is same as normal.


A virus is possible. (maybe you should head over to the malware forum and make sure your clean)
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35


You could try booting into Safe Mode and see if it lets you change it ther (tap F8 as you boot your computer to get into safemode)

 

Yes...

Support is ending for some versions of Windows

Security Updates from Microsoft for Windows XP SP3 will continue untill 2014.
And to underline what ~Q~ said, those updates are referred to as Critical Updates.

 

I personally turn mine off because a lot of what they think is "essential" is for programs I don't even use.
Things like Media Player. I use VLC.
Outlook Express I don't use.
I would rather pick mine manually and save hard drive space.

 

Yes, but those are still installed on your machine which is why they show up on
the updates list.

Question is, even though you don't use them, they are 'connected' to the operating system,
so do they present any security risk by being there in an 'UnPatched' state??

I don't know, but do think it's better to have them Patched or Not Patched?

How much disk space do those fixes require, particularly when viewed as a
Percentage of your available hard disk space.

Unless I know that there are some legitimate stability or Usability concerns with a so called Security Update, as was the case with Internet Explorer 8,
I usually don't question them. They've (MS folks) already done that.

I don't want to take the time to research everyone of those things.

 

I keep up to date with all of them and usualy dont get notified more then 2 or 3 times a week and it mainly updates 2 or 3 quick items as well generaly dont have to restart.

 

Yes ie is very tied to core functions of the windows xp, and so on, but less so in more recent versions i believe. But you should always apply all those patches, and if you are doing it for space reasons, you should look at a bigger hard drive anyhow, for a defragmenting program to work efficiently most want 50% of the drives size to be free, and the less free space the more issues start to show up.

 

Most of the disk space occupied by Microsoft Update are the uninstallers in the %WINDIR% folder. If you do not plan to uninstall them (after updates have proven stable), you can have them deleted using CCleaner. (Don't delete them manually; CCleaner knows what folders must remain there in order for Microsoft Update to function correctly.)

 

That's a great tip.

That is listed under the Advanced heading as Hotfix Uninstallers

I just ticked that and ran the Analyze scan to see how much space would be cleared.
It IS significant at 542MB but you have no control over which uninstallers will be removed.
It would be nice if you could filter the removal by Date Span.

 

I found a way to control which uninstallers will be removed.

I'm putting that in a new post, Removing / Cleaning Windows Hotfix Uninstallers