First time installing on new PC. Question about hardware updates and automatic updates

[Crom808]

Greetings everyone,


I installed Windows 10 on my laptop for the first time tonight and I was surprise by how invasive the OS is to our privacy. So I disabled as much tracking/information gathering options from Windows 10 in the Privacy settings. I also used Spybot Anti Beacon to make sure I caught everything.

Now to my surprised, Winwdows 10 installed ALL the drivers for the laptop (Chipset, GPU, audio, network etc...) Now I will be installing Windows 10 on my newly built gaming PC as soon as I get answers to my questions on this thread. So if you guys can help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it


1. So I read there's no way to really disable automatic updates on Windows 10 Home Edition. So I will purchase Windows Pro. This website explains how to disable automatic updates by editing
the Local Group Policy Editor settings. Does this work and is this effective?

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-stop-updates-installing-automatically-windows-10


2. For my LAPTOP I'm also worried about Windows Update downloading and installing drivers for my hardware like my Chipset and GPU drivers. I've read there could be conflicts with your system and the automatic hardware driver updates, if you changed video cards. It might download and install Radeon drivers even though you switched to an Nvidia card. Or it may even install both Radeon and Nvidia drivers. Or it could update your current GPU driver which is more stable then the newer driver it installs. So I have a couple questions:

2a. I've read of a way to disable Windows Update from installing hardware drivers. You go to systems, then advance settings, then to the hardware tab. And then you disable automatic hardware updates in device installation settings. Does this method work?

2b. For my gaming desktop that I'll install Windows 10 Pro on, I won't need to worry about disabling hardware updates this since I'll control the updates from the Local Group Policy Editor settings, right?

3. Do I need to disconnect my Ethernet cable from my PC before I install Windows 10 Pro, for my new gaming desktop so it won't automatically download all my hardware drivers? Because I want to install them manually. Or does it only update my hardware drivers when I check for updates for the first time after I install Windows 10 Pro? When I installed Windows Home for my laptop, it was connected to my modem, so I think it was updating something. Is it mandatory to be connected to the internet to install Windows 10?

3a. Is it okay to just let Windows 10 update everything for this one time when I install it the OS for the first time. Then I can just disable automatic updates?



Thanks in advance for the help, I appreciate it!

 

[USAFRet]

Hardware drivers updates you can turn off. Your "2a" it the method.

With Win 10 Pro, you can delay OS updates, but not turn them off completely.
Pro vs Home brings no performance benefit. And Windows Updates are not the evil thing people make it out to be.

For instance...the vast majority of people around the globe who got slapped with the recent WannaCry ransomware had updates turned OFF. MS put out a patch for that 2 months before the virus went out into the wild.
So if you caused you system to not get updates, you were vulnerable.

 

[Rocky Bennett]

Why would you want to disable automatic updates for your operating system? Unless you have a pirated version of Windows 10, there is no good reason to disable auto updates, this is a very bad idea.

 

[Crom808]

Why would you want to disable automatic updates for your operating system? Unless you have a pirated version of Windows 10, there is no good reason to disable auto updates, this is a very bad idea.

I'm just used to updating everything manually. This is the first time I'm using Windows 10, I've been using Windows 7 for a long time

 

[Crom808]

Can anyone answer my questions for 3 and 3a? And I have a few more questions:

4. Just for future reference, how would I check which version chipset motherboard driver I have if Windows 10 auto updates? I know it doesnt show in "Programs and Features" in the control panel. Do I need to go to device manager and look under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers?

5. Does Windows 10 automatically updates and installs hardware drivers while I'm installing Windows 10 on my PC? I like manually installing my own hardware drivers (Chipset, GPU, network, auto etc...)

6. If Windows 10 does install hardware drivers during install, can I disconnect my Ethernet cable before I install Windows 10 so I can manually install?

7. If Windows 10 does not install the hardware drivers when installing Windows 10 for the first time, I just have to manually install the hardware drivers before I check for updates, and I should be fine?

8. Just for future reference, how would I check which version chipset motherboard driver I have if Windows 10 auto updates? I know it doesn't show in "Programs and Features" in the control panel. Do I need to go to device manager and look under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I appreciate it

 

[USAFRet]

#3 through #8:
Turn OFF Hardware Device updates.
You can install the drivers you wish.
Let all the other updates run as normal. On initial install and for the foreseeable future.

And for your hardware drivers...you don't really need to update those all the time.
If it ain't broke, leave it be.

 

[USAFRet]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Crom808 : "Motherboard driver/Windows 10 automatic updates questions"

Greetings everyone,


I'll be installing and using Windows 10 for the first time on my newly built gaming PC. I like manually installing my hardware drivers and I'm used to it. I have some questions:


1. Does Windows 10 automatically updates and installs hardware drivers while I'm installing Windows 10 on my PC? I like manually installing my own hardware drivers (Chipset, GPU, network, auto etc...)

2. If Windows 10 does install hardware drivers during install, can I disconnect my Ethernet cable before I install Windows 10 so I can manually install?

3. If Windows 10 does not install the hardware drivers when installing Windows 10 for the first time, I just have to manually install the hardware drivers before I check for updates, and I should be fine?

4. Just for future reference, how would I check which version chipset motherboard driver I have if Windows 10 auto updates? I know it doesn't show in "Programs and Features" in the control panel. Do I need to go to device manager and look under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I appreciate it

 

[USAFRet]

Also for the above...
The OS needs to install at least its own basic drivers, just to get the system actually running and visible on the monitor.

 

[Crom808]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Crom808 : "Motherboard driver/Windows 10 automatic updates questions"

Greetings everyone,


I'll be installing and using Windows 10 for the first time on my newly built gaming PC. I like manually installing my hardware drivers and I'm used to it. I have some questions:


1. Does Windows 10 automatically updates and installs hardware drivers while I'm installing Windows 10 on my PC? I like manually installing my own hardware drivers (Chipset, GPU, network, auto etc...)

2. If Windows 10 does install hardware drivers during install, can I disconnect my Ethernet cable before I install Windows 10 so I can manually install?

3. If Windows 10 does not install the hardware drivers when installing Windows 10 for the first time, I just have to manually install the hardware drivers before I check for updates, and I should be fine?

4. Just for future reference, how would I check which version chipset motherboard driver I have if Windows 10 auto updates? I know it doesn't show in "Programs and Features" in the control panel. Do I need to go to device manager and look under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I appreciate it

Thanks for the reply USAFRet. I read something online (The article was posted in 2015 if I remember correctly) where someone removed their Radeon GPU and installed a new Nvidia GPU. Windows update installed bother Radeon and Nvidia drivers when he restarted his computer and ran updates. This messed up his GPU performance. Is this still happening? Its an old article and maybe its not happening now?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for the reply USAFRet. I read something online (The article was posted in 2015 if I remember correctly) where someone removed their Radeon GPU and installed a new Nvidia GPU. Windows update installed bother Radeon and Nvidia drivers when he restarted his computer and ran updates. This messed up his GPU performance. Is this still happening? Its an old article and maybe its not happening now?

Or maybe the user did not remove the Radeon driver after the hardware swap, Windows saw that the driver existed, and simply updated it.

Easily corrected, though.