How to Disable Windows Updates Temporarily with ZoneAlarm Firewall

So you are working on something important and want to make sure that Windows Updates are not downloaded for next few days? ZoneAlarm firewall provides you an easy way to disable the Windows Updates. ZoneAlarm is a free third party firewall that provides very high level of security to your system. It also offers a free antivirus module which is powered by well respected Kaspersky engine.

In case you are wondering why not just stop and disable the Windows Updates service to disable the updates, newer versions of Windows 10 come with Windows Updates remediation feature that can automatically restart WIndows Updates service once again.

For disabling Windows Updates, all you have to do is block Windows Updates process from accessing the internet using ZoneAlarm firewall. Here is how:

  1. Double-click on the ZoneAlarm icon in the Windows notification area. You can also right-click on the ZoneAlarm icon and select Show Monitor from the menu.Disable Windows Updates with ZoneAlarm
  2. In the ZoneAlarm Monitor window, click on the Firewall tile.Disable Windows Updates with ZoneAlarm
  3. In the Firewall settings tab, click on the programs secured link under the Application Control section.Disable Windows Updates with ZoneAlarm
  4. In the window that shows list of all the programs configured, select View Programs from the left. Scroll down the list, find Windows Update, right-click on it and select Deny for both Outbound and Inbound.Disable Windows Updates with ZoneAlarm
  5. Click on the OK button to save the settings.

After making these changes, Windows will no longer be able to download the updates while you will be able to access the internet as usual. And whenever you want to resume the downloading of regular Windows updates, you can follow the same steps all over again  with just one difference – this time, you right click on Windows Update and select Auto so that ZoneAlarm can automatically decide the settings for it.

In case, you have not installed ZoneAlarm free firewall in your PC, you can get it from https://www.zonealarm.com/software/free-firewall/.

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