Windows 8 has an automatic updates feature like its predecessors which automatically downloads and installs updates for Windows. This is a great thing as you always stay up-to-date and fully patched against Windows system vulnerabilities. But the default setting in Windows 8 for automatic updates is very annoying. It downloads the updates by itself without asking the user first. Fortunately, you can configure Automatic Updates and let Windows ask you to download updates when they are available. Here is how :
Note: You must have administrator privileges for the following steps.
- Press the key combination Windows Logo Key + X on your keyboard. Select Control Panel from the menu that appears. This would open the Control Panel window.
- In the Control Panel window, select System and Security and then Windows Updates. In the Windows Updates window, click on the Change Settings link on the left side.
- On the Windows Updates settings window, you can select Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them from the drop down list as shown in the following picture.
- Click OK to save the settings. From now on, Windows will not download and install updates automatically without asking you first.
If you are a total novice to Windows operating system, then you should let the default settings for Windows Updates as they are. But if you have used Windows before and want more control on which updates should be installed and when Windows should download them, then you can change the Windows Updates settings as explained in the instructions above.