{"id":20130,"date":"2020-10-04T09:05:14","date_gmt":"2020-10-04T13:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=20130"},"modified":"2020-10-04T09:05:14","modified_gmt":"2020-10-04T13:05:14","slug":"how-to-turn-off-windows-10s-built-in-automatic-driver-updater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/how-to-turn-off-windows-10s-built-in-automatic-driver-updater\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Turn Off Windows 10&#8217;s Built-in Automatic Driver Updater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24pt;\">How to Turn Off Windows 10&#8217;s Built-in Automatic Driver Updater<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">We featured this tip earlier this year, yet nothing has changed with Windows Updates. It never fails that after almost every Windows 10 update we get a gaggle of emails from Windows 10 users telling us the update caused a driver issue. And while it&#8217;s true that Microsoft usually patches up their flawed updates, that does not make it any easier if you&#8217;re one of those who have a major problem after an update.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">It&#8217;s bad enough that unscrupulous software developers foist driver updater programs upon unwary users and others bundle these useless programs with legitimate software, but Windows 10 automatically updates device drivers by default.\u00a0 And most of you already know how updating drivers that do not need updating can cause major computer problems. If you&#8217;re not familiar with our disdain for automatic driver updater, take a minute and read about <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/which-is-worse-driver-updater-programs-or-malware\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the dangers of installing driver updaters.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">You shouldn\u2019t use any automatic driver updater, but what can you do about Windows 10&#8217;s built-in automatic driver updater?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><strong>Here&#8217;s how to turn off Windows 10&#8217;s built-in automatic driver updater<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">By default, Windows Update will also download and update device drivers and install them automatically.\u00a0 But the only time you ever need to update your drivers is if a hardware device is not working correctly. Your printer, your display, your sound, you webcam \u2013 are all examples of devices that use drivers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><em>This is a short way to disable automatic driver updates. This method saves you several steps.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><em>NOTE: If this does not work for you, see the long way to do this, further down on the page.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">1. Type Device Installation in the taskbar search and press Enter when you see \u201cChange device installation settings\u201d appear at the top. You can also click it or click \u201cOpen\u201d when it appears.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">2.\u00a0 When the \u201cDevice Installation Settings\u201d dialog opens, under \u201cDo you want to automatically download manufacturers\u2019 apps and custom icons for your available for you devices? select \u201cNo (your device might not work as expected) &amp; click \u201cSave Changes\u201d. See the screenshot below.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2020\/DIS201a.png\" alt=\"Cloudeight Windows 10 Tips &amp; Tricks\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">And that\u2019s it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Here\u2019s the long way to do it:<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Press the Windows key + I (or right-click the Windows 10 Start button &amp; click \u201cSettings\u201d) to open the Settings app.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">In Settings click Devices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">In Devices, under \u201cRelated settings\u201d click \u201cDevices and printers\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2020\/DIS020.png\" width=\"312\" height=\"250\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Right-click on your computer icon and choose \u201cDevice installation settings\u201d from the menu which appears.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2020\/DIS20.png\" alt=\"Cloudeight Windows Tips &amp; Tricks\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">When you click on \u201cDevice installation settings\u201d the following dialog will open:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2020\/DIS201a.png\" alt=\"Cloudeight Windows 10 Tips &amp; Tricks\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Select \u201cNo (your device might not work as expected)\u201d, then click \u201cSave Changes\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>IMPORTANT:<\/strong> If you change your settings this way, <em><strong>you are responsible<\/strong> <\/em>for updating device drivers. Remember, you only need to update drivers if a device is not working correctly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>WARNING:\u00a0<\/strong> Always get drivers from the manufacturer\u2019s Website. NEVER SEARCH FOR DRIVERS, always go to the device manufacturer\u2019s website. Searching for drivers is a quick and easy way to get yourself into trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>And if you decide to let Windows automatically update drivers in the future, repeat the steps above,\u00a0 this time select \u201cYes (Recommended)\u201d in the Device Installation Settings dialog and click \u201cSave changes\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; How to Turn Off Windows 10&#8217;s Built-in Automatic Driver Updater We featured this tip earlier this year, yet nothing has changed with Windows Updates. It never fails that after almost every Windows 10 update we get a gaggle of emails from Windows 10 users telling us the update caused a driver issue. And while it&#8217;s true\u2026 <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/how-to-turn-off-windows-10s-built-in-automatic-driver-updater\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3948,10,2366],"tags":[2739],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20132,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20130\/revisions\/20132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}