Question Win 10 and 8.1 updates

[gn842a]

If I just turn computer on and don't log in, will it update?

My kid is heading off to college so the household's secondary build won't get much use. Would like to have a routine where I push the on button every Monday and leave it on for a few hours then shut it down. I mean turn push button on my way to get coffee and not sit in front or slow down.

 

[britechguy]

That depends entirely on what your settings are, and it will differ under Win8.1 and Win10. It will also differ under Win10 depending on what Version the machine is on and what cumulative updates may or may not have yet been applied.

With the latest Feature Update (1903) of Windows 10 a great deal more explicit control over updating has been given. This has also been "pushed back" with regard to the 1903 update itself, as virtually all users are now not being automatically updated but are, instead, being presented with a link in the Windows Update pane saying the Feature Update is available for download and installation, and if not activated things just stay as they are (at least for the moment, and this has been the case for some months now).

Best practice in a situation such as you describe is to fire up the machine that's not being used frequently and kicking off a check for updates yourself, then installing what gets found, even if that's all you're doing with it.