WAU Mananger - What exactly can it do and not do?

Windows 10 Home 1909

I've recently started using Windows 10 and paused updates for as many days as I could.
I also installed WAU Manager which I thought (perhaps it does?) would completely stop Windows automatically updating.
I read some other threads and it seems that WAU can't stop forced updates which is what I want and that I need to hide an update to stop forced updates from happening.
Is this correct?

I installed WAU while I had Windows Update on pause. Just wondering if this could have caused a problem when it was unpaused?

The pause came to an end today and updates were updated in the backround. I had a popup to restart my laptop.
Luckily I have not been updated to 2004.

I'm not 100% sure what I should now be doing to stop any forced update. I thought with WAU I could choose which updates to install but earlier the updates were updated in the background!

Is WAU Manager all I need or do I need to do more?

Do I still need to pause Windows updates?

Sledgehammer (free) stops WU, enables Defender updates, lets you manually scan.

I have no experience with WAU.

Also see:
Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10

Plenty of other threads on stopping windows update- often discussed- over and over. Feel free to search the forum.

Thank you for your reply.


Sledgehammer should meet your needs. You make no comment about that.

I also cited a tutorial. See. e.g. Option 1. You made no comment about that.

You can't (or shouldn't) stop Security Updates, such as Patch Tuesday. Sledgehammer or other 3rd party tools may be able to stop them, but you are running high risk by doing so. Other MS updates are optional, such as 2004. End of life OS upgrade is another issue altogether.

Autobahn said:

The main updates which seem to cause problems but any Windows OS update which might cause problems.
I'd rather wait until I know there is nothing wrong with them, then update months later.
Security and quality updates I don't mind (unless they cause a problem :) )

What you are describing there is an impossible scenario to qualify. Seem and Might are unknowns and unpredictable. By definition you cannot predict the unpredictable

I know what you're trying to say and get across, but knowing if an update will be harmful before installed is an unknown. Bad updates can be uninstalled. Some that are permanently installed cannot be, and need a patch from MS.

On the Check for Updates page, click Update History to show what was updated. Do a screenshot and post here, please.