Jody Thornton

Same here. But there were also prefs in about:config to do it. Also for the new tab page, I use the WebExtension called New Tab Tools

I thought the question was referring to the latest ESR being v60. I am using that version/ Quantum is quite nice and fast, I applaud Roytam1's efforts at extending the life of Pale Moon and classic Firefox on XP/Vista. But after disabling all of the telemetry and activity stream on Quantum. It runs nice. Very Nice!

Well it's nothing to do with bold and daring. I wouldn't install any rollups now, only because the Spectre and Meltdown mitigations are integrated. I really wonder if @NoelC's 8% slowdowns are because he's only disabled the mitigations, but they're still installed when being disabled. Not sure. I want to learn some day that I'll be able to utilize all of the security-only updates up until the current month, only skipping the April 2018 update (or whichever one has the mitigations), with virtually no performance hit. I'm not sure how I'll find out or confirm that, but we'll see.

Well I managed to get it working (or more accurately get Windows Updates set to be manual). HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update was the key I needed to edit. I set AUOptions to "1" and cached AUOprions also to "1". Updates won't be sought after automatically, but you can search manually. I also disabled Windows Defender completely since on an ARM tablet, they'll not likely run, and that really increases perfomance. I'm really enjoying this Surface tablet Am I actually the FIRST person to post anything about Windows RT? I wondered if the Windows 8 section was the correct area to post.

Hello! I've acquired a Surface RT tablet, which works quite nicely for what I'm considering using it for (mostly tablet use with Metro apps). I've learned that "officially", Automatic Updates cannot be defeated. Yes, I realize that I can turn off the Windows Update service, but I want to be able to be notified of updates, but choose when to download and install them. Apparently that is not an option. And using Group Policy to disable Automatic Updates is not compatible with Windows RT. Now a number of pages describe editing the registry by going to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update (I ihad to create the last two keys). Then there were two suggestions. Adding the REG_DWORDS "AUOptions" and "StopAutoUpdate" - setting both to "1". Still after a reboot, Windows Update is still set to download updates automatically. Has anyone any experience in trying to get this to work in RT? By the way, is the Windows 8 Forum the best spot to post RT questions?

You've given me a lot to think about over the last few months when it comes to updating. My system is running terrific right now, though I have to say, it's weird knowing that in a month from now, my newest update to the core OS will not have been issued since a year ago. I had planned to run Windows 8 for five years, since I could update it until October 2023. But yikes, should I leaved it at November 2017 update level for THAT long? Wow! But so far @NoelC, you seem to be on the money.

No I understand they were 27.9.1x (but that's what I meant is that they were beyond 27.9.4 level - that's fine) So I'm not running Pale/New Moon on my Windows 8 box. I was just curious for my mom's PC, and they're still on v27.x, so we're good there. I haven't seen a post for a new one since late August. Is that correct?

@roytam1I was trying to go back and find when your last Tycho build was. I recall you had one that was post v27.9.4, but were there any after that?

So next I was attacking automatic Defrag that shows up in Event Log. It completes a boot optimization, even though I disabled Automatic optmization. I use "My Defrag" anyway for boot optimization, so I disabled the "Optimize Drives" services. That should do it :) Knocking off these little bug-a-boos one step at a time :)

You're both right. So yes I removed the Custom Trigger. That allowed me to edit the properties of the Scheduled Start task. Then I removed the "One Time" event trigger. I saved the task, and then disabled it. Then I applied a Deny permission to the System Account on the file itself.

We have success. I have updated Windows Defender. and attempted running a manual update. BITS and Windows Update come on as needed, and then go back off eventually. Both services are set to Manual. But most importantly, the Scheduled Task entry never regenerates or starts. It has remained "Disabled" I want to thank everyone for their help. @UCyborg, @dencorso and @HarryTri, I appreciate all of your help.

Funny - I posted this question over at the DM Windows 8 forum. They're friggin' useless over there. Not even a single thread comment. Just in case you want to hear what crickets chirping sounds like: https://www.eightforums.com/threads/task-scheduler-cannot-remove-scheduled-start-task.78706/

I gave the SYSTEM account "Deny" access to the task file. So far, the task has remained disabled. Windows Defender does allow manual update checks. No updates since 8:25 am EST. And the Windows Updates service does start as needed.

Hmmmmmm - now we're cooking. I shall let you know!

D'oh! Yes Dencorso (hand me a tissue....lol)

Well - sigh! Things were looking really good for awhile. It stayed disabled for nearly three hours. I even restarted Windows 8 without any trouble. Scheduled Start remained disabled. Then I manually updated Windows Defender! After a successful update, Bam! The task was re-enabled and the date was reset to current. Now it will check again this afternoon. Crap! Crap! Crap! You should have control over this if you so desire. Oh well, that really looked hopeful!

So I removed the System write/modify permissions on the task file under System32\Tasks. Then I deleted the "Custom Trigger" in Scheduled Start", and also set ahead the date for December 28, 2023. I can now save changes. It's still disabled. However, let's see if anything changes now if I leave it for awhile, or restart Windows 8. Here's hoping!

That is GOOD information @UCyborg. Now if I remove the trigger on Windows Update, will Defender still be able to update when it's placed on a schedule?

I don't find that xper really locks threads on this site. To me locking threads and forcing newly made ones, just adds bulk to the forum. Besides, what if you have a new answer to provide the topic years later? And thanks for the heads up on Comodo. Luckily I've retired my Vista box, but my mom uses XP/POS Updates. I had her uninstall MSE v4.304.0 because she was getting the over-active CPU usage (and fan noise). He system sped up immensely when it was gone, so I was going to install Comodo on it. Maybe now I won't.

Oh I agree there. Totally thought this all along. Well renaming the WindowsUpdate tasks folder didn't work. A new folder was created eventually in it's place.

Yes but in my case, peace of mind is that i not run. I respect where you're coming from, but I want it gone. I recreated a task called Scheduled Task, but as an Admin, and it was overwitten. This time I renamed the task folder "WindowsUpdate" to "Windows Update". So far the task have NOT been regenerated. We shall see.

So since I cannot edit the task, I deleted it, and created a new task with the same name of "Scheduled Start", with different parameters. Then I disabled it. After about an hour, my new task was replaced with a new instance of the default "Scheduled Start" task. D'oh!

That was a valiant attempt @aviv00but it appears not to be permission related.

Hello All! I have disabled Automatic Updates in Windows 8 now. The only time I use Windows Update services are to update Windows Defender definitions, via a scheduled task, or to manually install patches I download from the Microsoft Catalog. Then I had Windows Update and BITS services set to Manual. Everything works fine this way, and Windows Update itself is set in Control Panel to NEVER check for updates I still noticed however in Task Scheduler, under the folder "WindowsUpdate", there is a task called "Scheduled Start" that runs automatically every six or so hours to scan Windows Updates services (I assume for updates perhaps). I don't wish for this task to run. I have deleted it, removed the "Tree" and Task Cache" key from the registry, heck - I even deleted the whole WindowsUpdate task folder. No matter which of these I tried (each seemed to go through successfully), the task would be recreated after a reboot, or after a half-hour. And properties of the task cannot be changed at all. You try to save changes and a message box appears saying: "Task Scheduler Service is not available. Task Scheduler will attempt to reconnect to it". And that's where I'm at. Has anyone experienced this at all?

Except for corporate license holders, but that's only because MAJOR money is involved