Why does Windows Update & Modules Installer run even when paused?!

For me the same behaviour occurs even after updating to 1903. This time after 15 minutes and 40 seconds TrustedInstaller.exe and TiWorker.exe will launch in background. Also smartscreen.exe will appear after 14 minutes from PC boot and will disappearing after 3-5 minutes.

Yesterday I noticed the same behaviour even after 2 hours. But it was consuming only 1MB memory.

Despite disabling smartscreen.exe from Group Policy Editor and the settings being set to off, there appears to be a hidden task scheduler that triggers them to launch after 14-15 minutes. For smartscreen I can verify this behaviour from before reinstalling Windows 10. But for TrustedInstaller.exe I don't remember or perhaps I only just identified that this is happening after 15 minutes.

Searching through Task Scheduler finds none of these triggering instances where I can disable. This is a Windows 10 exclusive behaviour. My mums PC is Windows 7 and dad uses 8.1 and I have tested this on theirs and this does not happen. But then again I have Windows Update disabled on their PCs so I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it.

I'm going to have to test if I use the Windows Update Blocker tool Windows Update Blocker v1.2
Whether this will stop it or not. Alternatively disabling Windows Modules Installer should do the trick. But I want it to be set to Manual and for it to behave normally.

Ok, so I've found a fix that I can confirm last 1 week it is working. Obviously as I mentioned previously Windows Modules Installer (TrustedInstaller.exe and TiWorker.exe) is configured to run after 15 minutes and 30 seconds or so. This behaviour occurred even after installing 1903.

I tried to temporarily re-enable Windows Defender Antivirus and scanned my computer, everything clean. There's no latest definition update available, it is all up to date. The behaviour still never stopped.

TrustedInstaller.exe and TiWorker.exe continued to run in the background after 15 minutes from PC boot-up or restart. I realised that this has no respect even if you run your games. I mean I would've thought Windows Game mode was there to stop needless schedules running while you're gaming, I was wrong!

This can cause lag in game when these processes start running and eating 20MB RAM and CPU usage.

So now I finally decided the best solution is to Disable the Windows Modules Installer. Make sure in the Recovery tab set it to Take No Action and 0 for Reset fail.

If you ever need to use Windows Update and or SFC /Scannow you can manually start the process again. Do not set it to Manual because this behaviour will start again after 15 minutes. Also disable Windows Update with the blocker tool and the Task Schedular related to Windows Updates using PSTools.