How to stop windows 10 Upgrades (not security updates)

I have a problem with windows 10 and wish that someone
with more experience can help me understad if what i'm
going to ask is possible:

i would like to use windows (10 pro) as a stable system to
work on my projects, so i was using windows 10 1607
and had set the "defer upgrades" to avoid feature upgrades.
I do not want to stop security/fix updates, only stop
system changing upgrades.

In spite of the "defer upgrades" settings the system
upgraded to 1703 creative update and i was not able
anymore to connect to the system remotely so i had
several problems to understand what was goind on and
to restore connectivity.

Is it possible to stop this behavior and maintain
a stable windows 10 version untill it is supported
(namely untill it receive security uptates)?

So help me understand if windows 10 pro is trustworthy
or just a crippled OS and i may need windows 10 enterprise
to do what i need without having the OS fighting back
the system settings i choose to set.

P.S. i'm not a windows twearker messing with
regedit etc, i'm hoping there is a simple way
to do this because if i have to fight against
what it seems to me windows 10 is supposed to do (upgrade itself),
i'm not going to do that but i'll replace it instead.

So to whom have more windows 10 insights
i'm i doomed or is there a way to avoid upgrades?

thanks.

Barman thanks for your answer,

12 month would be ok, unfortunately i installed 1607 a couple of month ago still it upgraded to 1703
despite the defer upgrade which did not defer.

Thanks for your explanation, LTSB is probably what would fit my need but it's overkill to
pay for Volume Lic. to use it in a couple of pc.

So what i understand is that i'd better use another OS if i need a stable system.

Thanks sml156, i do not know if those settings will do and what they really mean:

this is microsoft definition:

Some Windows 10 editions let you defer upgrades to your PC. When you defer upgrades, new Windows features won’t be downloaded or installed for several months. Deferring upgrades doesn’t affect security updates. Note that deferring upgrades will prevent you from getting the latest Windows features as soon as they’re available.

nonetheless my pc ugraded after less than two month after 1607 fresh install,
so my experience is that thoe settings may or may not be effective, it's like
tossing a coin and i will be not be bitten again by the same snake.

sml156 said:

It's my understanding that the way I got my updates set I should not get anything that will reboot the computer for a long time, I have been wrong before so we will see.

I will not leave it that long I will update when I got the time to do it myself. MS seems to break stuff when they do a major upgrade so I would rather do it when I know I can screw around for an hour trying to fix it or reinstall Windows, I don't play around with it too long I just reinstall and get it over with.

Oh and upgrade your OS 16.04 has been EOL for over a month now.

I try to set as your above picture, let's see how it goes ...

i do not know what you mean with your OS 16.04 is EOL, if you mean
the ubuntu 16.04, is not EOL, it's a long term release (5 years of support);

thanks again.