Microsoft is finally giving us full control over Windows 11 updates,
including delaying them indefinitely, and I couldn't be happier

Date:
Mon, 27 Apr 2026 10:32:29 +0000

Description:
'Shutdown, Restart on your terms' with 'fewer disruptions', Microsoft says these are overdue, but nevertheless impressive changes.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Become a Member in Seconds Unlock instant access to exclusive member
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your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Join the club Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards. Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Microsoft is giving us much more control over Windows 11 updates In testing you can now delay updates indefinitely Forced updates are a thing of the
past, too, and there'll be fewer disruptions with more updates bundled together Microsoft already told us it was planning substantial changes to Windows 11 updates, and some major moves are now in place.

This is happening in testing currently, as announced by Microsoft in a
lengthy blog post, with three main pieces of work highlighted. The big change that many have wished for is functionality that allows for pausing a Windows 11 update for as long as you want. And as 'long as you want' means just that, with the ability to hold off any given update until a specific date of up to 35 days in the future but you can initiate another pause after that, and
keep going. Article continues below You may like Windows 11 users could soon be able to to pause updates for as long as they want Microsoft just released an update I actually want to install and you should too Microsoft promises
to fix the biggest issues in Windows 11, including AI

Microsoft explains: "This means you can now re-pause for up to 35 days at a time, with no limits on how many times you can reset the pause end date."

Another important refinement of the update process is the end of forced updates, with Microsoft ensuring that the Power menu (button) always has the option to simply 'Shut down' and 'Restart' alongside 'Update and shut down' and 'Update and restart' (the latter two only being present if there is a pending update, of course).

So, you always have the choice to just switch off your PC or restart,
avoiding an update, with a guarantee that "Windows will perform exactly that action, without unexpectedly starting an update". You have to explicitly choose one of the update options to apply the pending patch.

The third main change is that you can elect to miss out on downloading and applying updates when you're installing Windows 11, to make setting up a PC a lot quicker. We already heard about this, with the rollout flagged by a
tester previously , but Microsoft is now widely delivering this option to Windows Insiders. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

It's worth noting that the choice to skip updates during installation is not available for commercial devices (where setup is managed), and also doesn't apply to cases where a device may require updates to even work with Windows
11 (as obviously it wouldn't be possible to skip in these scenarios).

Microsoft further explains that Windows 11 users will see fewer disruptions
in terms of having to restart for updates, as more of them the likes of .NET or driver updates will be bundled together with the monthly cumulative update.

In other words, you can get them all out of the way at once (albeit with a lengthier overall update process). Driver updates will also be given more meaningful titles, so you can better understand what they're for. What to
read next Microsoft promises big changes for Windows 11 'every month this year' Microsoft is finally fixing Windows 11 under the hood but is it too late? Microsoft has finally started its campaign to 'make Windows 11 better' Analysis: 'cup of coffee' updates, begone (Image credit: TechRadar) Remember that all of this is in testing right now and therefore subject to change, potentially but I wouldn't be surprised to see these features arrive for all Windows 11 users before long.

Microsoft has indicated that it isn't hanging about with implementing the project to fix Windows 11 in 2026 , and we're seeing the evidence already, so I'd imagine this will be piped through with some speed (before the 26H2
update later this year, certainly).

These are without doubt some very useful introductions, and particularly the ability to delay updates indefinitely, which is something I've been very keen to see brought in. I wasn't expecting it to actually allow users to pause for as long as they want, although technically, you are still going to be forced to update when the version of Windows 11 you're on runs out of support. But that's a whole lot of road with which to dodge an update, if you're really worried about, say, reports of a nasty bug that apply to a hardware configuration you have with your PC.

The change to avoid forced updates is great to see, as well, although really, the system should have always worked like this. Hopefully this will mean an end to 'shower' or 'cup of coffee' updates, whereby a user leaves their PC
for 10 or 15 minutes or so for a break, and comes back to find their device
is partway through an update it has kicked off all by itself.

Overall, this is impressive and Microsoft definitely gets some credit here, albeit we've had to wait a good long while for this to happen. The best laptops for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best laptops 1. Best overall: Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M5 2. Best budget: Apple MacBook Neo 3. Best Windows 11 laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch 4. Best thin and light: Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 5. Best Ultrabook Asus Zenbook S 16 Follow TechRadar on Google News and add
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/microsoft-is-finally-giving-us-ful l-control-over-windows-11-updates-including-delaying-them-indefinitely-and-i-c ouldnt-be-happier


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