How to escape the BSOD WINDOWS UPDATE trap

Question

Please, Microsoft, for the love of Christmas, stop issuing Windows 10 Updates that "brick" my computer. For the past many months, every Windows 10, version 1903 and later, Critical Update (the latest being KB5033052) has lead to a seemingly unending cycle of attempted update/BSOD/undo repairs looping. The only escape from which is (for readers who experience the same issue) the Triple Hard Reset manoeuvre (repeatedly pressing the power button three times) to activate the Automated System Repair mechanism, followed by a lengthy wait while the computer gets itself back into the state it was in before it tried to automatically apply the update. Followed by hiding the offending update using the open source Update Manager for Windows application. Feel free to offer any advice that you feel might be of help. But please, don't bother suggesting that I Reinstall Windows (Retaining User Data) because the one time I followed that suggestion my (many years of carefully accumulated) data (including automatically generated/saved secure passwords) was not retained, and my day got infinitely worse. (Briefly what happened was that the Reinstall proceeded until it reached a stage where it reported that it couldn't continue, and the data was non-recoverable.) What I need to know, what would be most helpful, is how to block Critical Updates before they are automatically applied? Because I'd rather use a less than secure computer carefully, than use no computer at all.

Answer 1

Hello, The simple way is to open Settings/ Update & Security If you have any updates pending, you’ll find them listed on top. You can also check to see if you have any updates waiting. Otherwise, you’ll be told you’re up to date. You’ll see “Pause updates for 7 days.” Click on that to stop your device from updating for a week. Then monitor if the BSOD occurs during normal reboot and daily operation. I also noticed you would like to block Critical Updates before they are automatically applied, this will need to modify some more changes: Use Win+R to open the “Run” box, and type in “services.msc.” Hit “OK.” Type “services.msc in the “Run” box Scroll down to Windows Update and double-click on it. In the “Startup type” drop-down menu, select “Disabled.” Setting “Windows Update” to “Disabled” will stop updates — for a while Click “Okay” and restart your PC.