Turn off 'Automatic Updates'?

Any ideas on how to really turn off Auto Updates in XP Pro SP3? I tried the method detailed in the various books:
Start
Control Panel
Performance
System
check Turn Off Automatic Updates
It would appear that does not work, as IObit Uninstaller informs me that 'MUWebControlClass 7.6.7600.257' has installed sometime in the last week. I noticed that because I been keeping an eye on 'MUWebControlClass 7.6.7600.256' which was already installed when I bought this PC. I know of an app that will kill Auto Updates, but want to make sure its really necessary before I use up MBs.

 

but have you disabled automatic updates in services??

I have automatic updates set to manual/stopped, but not disabled, because disabling this service will cause issues when you decide to check for updates, which could occur if you want to check for updates to any recently installed .net frameworks,

 

Well, I got no clue how to do that, so I doubt I got it disabled in services. Frankly I intend to jettison Auto Updates via XPLite Pro as soon as I can buy it, but that may take a couple weeks as I want my Techie here when I first buy an app (just in case), and it looks like the Microsoft Mothership could have me riddled with a load of crapware (or worse, corporate malware) by then. So much for the Microsoft pledge to end support, updates, etc. Anyway I'd like to totally disable it to give me a bit of worry-free time, until I can nuke it. Unless I can find an irresistible reason not to, the .NET bloatware will be ditched...part of my eventual goal to cut XP Pro down to 900 MB.

 

go to control panel, administrative tools, services, click on services, then in the dialog box that opens, scroll to Automatic updates, insure that it is disabled and stopped, see
picture:



and then double click on the update and you can disable service see below:

 

Many thanks for the above, as it gives me access to a bunch of junk (remote access, remote registry, remote desktop help, etc.) that I wanted to disable ASAP. Unfortunately, the Automatic Updates and Security Center were already disabled, so how Microsoft is managing to slip these updates to my PC is still unknown...some sort of backdoor? Only thing I can think of is maybe Hostsexpert 4.4, and putting every Microsoft URL I can find on its blocklist. Guess I could try Update Freezer 1.9 or Windows XP Update Remover 1.0.0.8, but I'm thinking if your method doesn't work, neither app will either.

 

have you run scans for infections, because if it is disabled it should not be giving updates, do you have a program such as Secunia PSI or something like that, that looks for updates for your programs?

 

I have run Avira scan less than a week ago. Most of the Microsoft crapware downloads came before that, but some after. This is what I have downloaded:
Avira Free+BPGKiller
Ad Muncher
AEdit
Agnitum Outpost Firewall 2009
Adobe Flash Player 28 NPAPI
Bleachbit
Cookienator
Comodo IceDragon
Daum Potplayer
DVDFlick
Easy 7Zip
Flush Flash
Faststone Image viewer
IObit Uninstaller Free
ImgBurn
My Secure Notepad
SeaMonkey
SRWare Iron
SterJo Netstalker
VLC Media Player
Whitehat Aviator
XP-Antispy
So far as I know, none of these got the ability to download surreptitiously. By the way, I also have 'Auto Updates' disabled in XP-Antispy.
Okay, so just finished 'full scan' with Avira. I had only done 'quick scans' before. Results are:
Detections: 0
Suspicious: 0

 

well, I am not sure, for now just when the icon appears telling you there is an update, just choose Custom, and remove checkmarks, then hit Close, a box will open choose to not be notified of the deselected updates.

==============

It appears that your system is clean, have you run a malware scan also with Malwarebytes free, full scan??

 

No, I have only installed those apps listed, and nothing else. Any other stuff either came with the PC, or is being forced on me (i.e. multitude of various 'KB' crud). I have noticed two items I believe are recent:
MUWebControlClass (7.6.7600.257)
WUWebControlClass (7.6.7600.265)
Seems to be connected to IE. I specifically shut down IE 'phone-home' ability using XP-Antispy, but maybe not good enough? So far as I can tell, I have shut down 'auto-update', 'remote assistance' and 'remote desktop'...no idea what backdoor Microsoft is using to flood in all this KB stuff. I'll have to get that update remover app I mentioned to someone here, but at the rate Microsoft is nailing my PC, it will take months to research which KBs I can ditch.

There is no icon appearing...I would never consent to any update, without knowing its contents. This KB stuff just shows up, no permission asking to install, and it seems none needed!

 

muwebcontrol class is the active x used to work microsoft updates.

and if no update icon appears then it might be a fake microsoft update site, no update gets installed automatically unless you have auto updates set to do this.

 

muwebcontrol class is the active x used to work microsoft updates.

and if no update icon appears then it might be a fake microsoft update site, no update gets installed automatically unless you have auto updates set to do this.

 

Could either be the means of entry for all these KBs appearing on my PC? Should I try to delete these two?

 

if they were installed without your knowledge yes I would say so

go to control panel/ add-remove programs/ click on show updates in the program dialog box, up on the top right/ and scroll down to see if that particular kb has been installed.

 

Hope this at least slows down the 'KB' flood...I'll work on ditching both.

 

Maybe you installed some windows updates/components by hand or with other applications?

 

I did install something. Think it was some missing 'dll' thingie, but I checked right after installation, and all this 'KB' junk did not come in with it, and a couple days later I did the 'disable updates'. So at most Microsoft became aware of me via the 'dll' install, but still does not explain how they were able to override 'disable updates', unless they sent in some backdoor with the install. I have yet to count up just how many KBs flooded in, but I'd guess at least fifty.

 

is adobe flash player set to update automatically? I believe that if it is it will use auto updates, not sure. I know it uses task scheduler.

I have not looked up all the programs you listed, but you need to see if one of them is a program that will update out of date programs, this will download microsoft updates if you have this program.

 

So far as I know none of the other apps have auto-update. The Adobe Flash I'm not sure about...know how to get to its updater?

 

look in scheduled tasks:

start/all programs/accessories/system tools/scheduled tasks

also go to control panel/ Flash Player Icon/ click on updates tab/ you can see 3 choices on top to see how it gets updated, I have mine set to notify only, I always check myself to see if I need an update.

 

Many thanks for the info. I'll poke around and see. Never thought Adobe Flash could override my turning off 'auto updates' in XP. I knew stopping updates in Adobe would be a pain, but never thought it would extend to the OS.