Hide or Show Windows Updates in Windows 10  

I have a question. I recently ran into a rather odd situation where my razer mouse synapse software update from a week ago broke the scroll wheel function on my mouse (bought new one thinking old had died, but it happened on it as well). So I was looking at this thread and wondered if perhaps Windows 10 update might have been prompting me for updates on that software program with outdated update instead of the update prompt coming directly from the synapse program itself.

There is an option within the synapse dashboard to look for updates which I can use manually, but did not realize Windows 10 updater might possibly be the culprit in my little saga. I've put in bug tickets to Razer and finally got a software support tech request for log files, etc. so they could see what might be the cause to break the scroll wheel function with the synapse program running, but when turned off, the scroll wheel functions on both (old and new) mice work perfectly.

I recall managing to block my nVidia drivers from being auto updated with Windows 10 updater, because of the conflict with the video card's new drivers vs older ones, that happened to be inadvertently used by Windows 10 updater. I manually update my nVidia video drivers periodically and have not had this problem since.

But can this be accomplished for a specific software install like the Razer synapse program for my mice? Is it possible to specifically target just the the synapse program to prevent Windows 10 updater from auto updating this software?

Brink said:

Hello lynspottery, :)

Yes, you could use this to hide a specific available update to prevent it from being installed. However, the next time a new driver version is available in Windows Update for it, it will still be available in Windows Update since it's not the same as the one you hid.

Well, hiding it really is not what I want. I usually manually install software I want for my keyboard and mice and did not realize Windows 10 updater even included these types of programs. I knew it included the video card drivers but those never worked well because the ones I got ended up crashing my nVidia options for my games. So I managed to select the option for no graphic driver updates. I much prefer manually handling these because sometimes I have to roll back an update due to problems until the company they come from fixes the problems. Can't do that with the synapse program apparently, if Windows 10 is auto updating behind the scenes, even though I have a fresh copy directly from Razer's site installed.

I really want to be able to disable the auto update from occurring because I much prefer handling it manually myself. I usually click the "check for updates" on the synapse dash board ...at least before last week's update that worked just fine and I never had a problem with the software for my mouse before then. But that update was a popup box in the middle of my screen and not from the dash board.

Just thought there might be a connection to my problems with an older update copy coming in that really was not an update to the one I actually just downloaded and installed.

Brink said:

If you like, you might see if the tutorial below may help by disabling to include driver updates in Windows Update.

Driver Updates in Windows Update - Enable or Disable in Windows 10

You can disable automatic updates in Windows Update using an option in the tutorial below. If you have Windows 10 Home installed, then only option 4 or 5 below will work though.

Windows Update Automatic Updates - Enable or Disable in Windows 10

If I understand that correctly I cannot chose which updates to disable? That is the crux of my problem if its all or none. That won't work. But with the video card drivers it was easy...I only have one video card so I don't have any others that need updates. With the programs I install myself like Razer's synapse program and my Logitech G910 keyboard program, I thought I could just eliminate those two from the auto Windows 10 updater without affecting anything else which is working just fine.

So I don't have an option? Its all or nothing? This is really odd to have so little control over self installed peripheral programs. If I am wrong, please explain.

Brink said:

You could do what's in the tutorial on the first page here to hide any Razer's synapse update in Windows Update to effectively disable it until a newer driver version is released.

If you wanted to disable automatic updates, then yeah it's an all or none deal. However, it'll give you the chance to hide any updates before manually checking for and installing any Windows Updates.

Hmmmm...it seems to me that perhaps a suggestion should be forwarded to Microsoft Windows 10 deveopers to consider offering something that gives the user more control over non-Windows essential programs so that they don't get lumped into one bag. After all, when I got the Windows 10 program, I did not expect it to include peripheral software outside of Windows programs.

I assumed, as many users have, that any peripheral programs used outside of the Windows 10 software for keyboards, mice, etc., that were added by a customer, were not the purview of Windows 10. Since Windows 10 had its own basic generic drivers which could be used by a basic keyboard or mouse, I never expected them to include specialty software or drivers.

However, finding it included with Windows 10 updater is odd. I expected that specific options usually gained with outside programming software specifically designed for these specialty items would not be that important to be included since they were so varied across the market place.

Brink said:

Many device manufacturers work with Microsoft to have their drivers included in Windows Update to make it easier for the end user to keep updated.

You can disable including drivers in Windows update as posted above, but it's an all or none setting.

Ok, well thank you very much. Correct me if I am wrong, but I suspect the file I sent to Razer, which they specifically included in their request so they could trouble shoot my problem, might be related to the auto updater.

- C:\Windows\Installer\{0CD55593-F275-4aea-92B2-9170B5A14644}
So its very possible this is the culprit to my scroll wheel failing when synapse updated last week.