Windows 10 version 19H1 which is due out in April 2019 is currently going through the Insider Preview Testing phase. Rather than focus on all the changes in one go as I have done previously I have decided to highlight particular features that customers are always asking for. By far the most frequently asked question is can I stop Windows updates? I have often wondered whether this means a particular Customer wants to opt out of important security updates altogether in order to remain uninterrupted when using their Computer but there are of course some valid reasons for pausing updates rather than stopping them altogether.
Windows 10 Professional users have always had the feature where they can pause updates for 35 days and they can also delay Feature updates for 365 days and Quality updates for 30 days. These are some of the benefits of paying more to get a more flexible Business version of Windows 10 rather than a free or low priced Home version of the software. This feature will now be available to Windows 10 Home users although they will only be able to pause updates for a maximum of 7 days. Once the 7 days are up Windows update will run immediately in order to catch up with any missing updates and you will not be able to pause again until this process has completed.
To use the feature (once you have updated to v19H1) you simply click on Start \ Settings \ Update and Security \ Windows Update or just type Windows Update in the search bar. Here you will see the new feature labelled 'Pause Updates for 7 days'. Once you have enabled this feature there will be a 'Resume Updates' button that allows you to resume updates before the 7 days are up and again in this instance there will be an immediate check for updates.
I previously mentioned that there are some valid reasons for doing this and I will cover a couple of important ones. You could be working on an important project or piece of course work and the sound of your Computer rattling away downloading updates is both annoying and takes away valuable bandwidth that you may need for your project. Your Computer will also be slow and then of course there's the dreaded moment where you see that your Computer wants to reboot. You can of course use the 'Active Hours' feature to tell it not to reboot but there's nothing worse than finding your Computer has just rebooted itself when you have popped downstairs for 10 minutes outside of the Active Hours. The ability to just a put a stop to this process for 7 days will benefit many Customers. The other time this will be particularly useful is for Laptop users going on holiday. If you are going abroad or even in the UK and have limited access to wifi or a limited Data allowance the last thing you want is Windows Update using up all your allowance or significantly slowing you down. In the worst case scenario where it attempts to download a major update you could be looking at a 4 GB- 6 GB download. I'm sure many people will now query why they can't stop updates for 14 days to allow for a two week break but at least Microsoft have offered something to appease the Customers that would like more control.
