Preventing updates

In the old Windows versions (XP, 7) I could configure the system so that whenever I got a message on pending updates, I could choose which updates to install and which not to install.
How can I do it in Windows 10? When I click Settings/Updates, I see a message on 3 pending updates which I absolutely don't need and don't want, which will take place in the next restart. How can I prevent these updates from being installed?
I'm using Windows 10 Home Ver 1909.

You could have better control of this with Win 10 Pro, but you chose Home.

That means if you want control of windows updates, selecting ones you want with check boxes, hiding those you don't want, you can use one of the various free 3rd party tools that have been mentioned so often on tenforums and elsewhere.

These disable WU letting you scan maually.

One is described in Option 7 of the tutorial on disabling automatic updates, for example.

There's a tutorial on how to hide a specific update as well.

Windows 10 Tutorial Index
searchable list

More detail:

Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10
Option 7

Sledgehammer
Windows Update Minitool
...

@Matthew Wai Hi, does that allow selecting the updates to apply, hiding the ones you don't want, or does it simply block updates? Does it have any form of GUI?

I'm aking for clarification for the OP.

gadisam said:

... I could choose which updates to install and which not to install ...

Windows 10's main 'Cumulative updates' [CU] are issued on the second Tuesday of each month. If you choose any of the available methods of controlling Windows updates then you can skip any CU you want to skip. You can skip the next one[s] as well if you want to. What you cannot do is install a bit of any of them. You cannot pick & chose within a CU - it's all or nothing. The same applies to Version updates.

I suppose you could avoid a particular .Net update as well but they are also issued as cumulative ones wth no facility for choosing bits of them.

There are sometimes updates to, just for example, VisualC++ components that you might be able to ignore or choose between for all I know.

You can always skip MRT updates. It might be easier to block MRT entirely though - see Disable Malicious Software Removal Tool From Installing - WinAero

Please identify the "3 pending updates which I absolutely don't need" and somebody might be able to make useful comments about them.

Denis