In Windows 10 updates are mandatory

One of the changes introduced by Windows 10 for Home edition users is the force of Install all important updates available from Windows Update as soon as possible. This idea, which is part of the Windows as a Service concept, is generally positive, as it reduces vulnerabilities that users are exposed to, and also reduces OS version fragmentation, making life easier for developers.

However, there are special cases in which someone may have justifiable reasons for not wanting to install a certain update, such as the fact that it includes new drivers with incompatibilities, or corresponding to an unnecessary feature (for example, Silverlight).

For these cases, Microsoft has provided a tool that allows you to hide unwanted updates, and thus prevent them from being installed automatically. It can be downloaded from here, and it consists of a wizard that provides 2 options: hide available updates that have not yet been installed, and show hidden updates again.

Both options were previously available in the Windows 7/8 Control Panel, but in Windows 10 Home edition it is no longer possible to find them there, so we will need to download this wizard to access them .

How to uninstall updates that have already been applied

An important detail regarding the wizard published by Microsoft is that it only serves to hide updates that have not yet been installed. If an update has already been installed we have to proceed differently.

The good thing here is that Windows 10 Home does allow you to uninstall updates from System Settings, although the option is somewhat hidden. We have to go to Settings > Update and security > Windows Update > Advanced options > View update history > Uninstall updates .

"There will appear a window like the one above, with the classic interface of the Control Panel, and that will display all the Windows updates installed so far. To remove one, just select it and click the button Uninstall>"

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The big but>driver or firmware updates are not displayed. These sometimes appear in the uninstall programs and applications window (Settings > System > Applications and features), allowing us to uninstall them from there:"

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But to guarantee that we can uninstall these other types of updates, it is advisable to activate the System Restore function, which is disabled by default in Windows 10, in order to create restore points>"

That way, if something goes wrong, we can restore the computer to the state it was in before installing a problematic update (the end result will be as if said update had never been installed). Once that is done, we can use the Microsoft tool to hide updates and thus prevent it from being automatically reinstalled.

To activate System Restore, follow these steps:

• "Open Start Menu or Cortana and type system restore"
• "Click on the first result that will appear: Create Restore Point"
• "A System Properties window will appear. There you have to click on the Configure button"
• "In the new window that will appear, we must check Activate system protection"
• If we want to have many restore points available, we must increase the space reserved for System Restore (I increased it from 486 MB to 6.6 GB). Each restore point wastes space, and as soon as the reserved space is filled, Windows starts deleting the oldest restore points. Therefore, if the reserved space is very low, there will be at most 1 or 2 restore points available (the most recent ones), and we will not be able to uninstall very old updates).
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• Finally, we press Accept>"

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Obviously, the ideal world is not to have to resort to these techniques, but updates are posted by humans who sometimes make mistakes, so it&39;s good to have a plan B>"

However, as a general rule of thumb it's almost always best to install updates released on Windows Update soon, in order to protect against vulnerabilities in security and other issues.

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