Windows 10 notify before downloading updates

In addition, an up-to-date PC is less likely to be infested with malware which is not just bad for you, but its bad to everyone else in the world if it ends up in a botnet. That is why I'm very happy that Microsoft has taken an aggressive approach by automatically installing updates when they become available by default.

This is perfect for the average consumer that doesn't want to worry about maintaining yet another thing. But for advanced users that prefer more control, it can be incredibly annoying. So, users are often surprised when they come in the next morning and find their workstation restarted overnight to install updates that were invisibly pending on their machine for a few days.

Likely because they are not ready to install - they just get installed now, and you are notified if a reboot fails or when a scheduled time is offered. You can't choose to download and install when ready on Windows 10 like you could with the previous versions, they are installed and just either reboot or tell you when they are scheduled to reboot. You can, but there is no way to choose when to install them any more, all you can do is choose when you reboot.

This is also the reason they are now just installed - hardly anyone ever checks, and so many vulnerable systems exist for this reason. Our updates are managed by WSUS. I can manually check for updates and install them on Windows 10 before the installation deadline. After the installation deadline passes, they install automatically. The problem is that when approved updates are synced to the computer for a future scheduled installation, there is no visual indicator on the desktop so a user could choose to manually install the updates and reboot prior to the time they are scheduled to install automatically.

I was wondering if we inadvertently disabled the notification when setting other group policies or if we need to manually enable a UI setting to pop up update notification balloons or banners.

If the service is enabled, you must select one of the four options in the Group Policy Setting:. If the status for this policy is set to Disabled, any updates that are available on Windows Update must be downloaded and installed manually. To do this, search for Windows Update using Start. However, an administrator can still configure Automatic Updates through Control Panel. Check the process that is using the most bandwidth currently.

To stop the download, select the process and click on End Task. If you've already installed that update, the October version should only take a few minutes to download. But if you don't have the May Update installed first, it could take about 20 to 30 minutes, or longer on older hardware, according to our sister site ZDNet.

Now, in the "Windows as a service" era, you can expect a feature update essentially a full version upgrade roughly every six months. And although you can skip a feature update or even two, you can't wait longer than about 18 months. Not only is it fine - it's preferred.

Generally, your computer will run system updates and patches in the overnight hours. Select Enabled, and then from the available Options, from the drop-down menu, select Notify for download and notify for install.

Click on Apply and Exit. Restart your computer. From the Services list which appears find the Windows Update service and open it. Select Schedule the restart and choose a time that's convenient for you.

Note: You can set active hours to make sure your device only restarts for updates when you're not using your PC. After you open the Windows Update window, click or tap "View update history". You will see a list with all the updates that were installed.