If you have 11 Pro you can use Group Policy Editor to shut off updates. It'll pop up a notification a couple of times a day about needing to update but you can ignore it. I had to shut off my updates after one of them would make my screen black every start up. Explorer.exe was still running and I could use task manager and the command line. The vast majority of security updates are for programs I never use and the rest can be fixed with a simple registry edit.
So it didn't wake up on it's own or drain the battery to install the updates when you didn't turn the laptop on yourself after using WinUtil? Sounds like that solved your issue so I don't know what your problem is. Maybe install Linux Mint if you're not having a good time with Windows 11 and you find another issue after solving one just so you can bitch about it?
It's all one issue. The reason the battery didn't get drained is because I had left the charger plugged in overnight. I used WinUtil to supposedly stop updates altogether. Can you see where I might be concerned it updated after it was supposed to be stopped? If it's just a lagging thing from the update it had ready to go that's fine, if this didn't work I'd like to figure out what will while I'm already fucking with the machine instead of finding out at some indeterminate point in the future when windows decides to be really inconvenient again.
Stuck with home so unless the WinUtil turned out to be a fluke it looks like I'll be downgrading to W10 LTSC.
In my experience Windows updates aren't inconvenient. With WinUtil's security update settings I get one update per month, it installs in the background, patiently waits for me to finish whatever it is that I'm doing, and the only inconvenience are the slightly longer shutdown and startup times as it finishes installing the update, after which it's back to normal. This by the way, is how Windows always was, it's an NTFS limitation where it has to apply the updates after unloading most of the OS and then before it even loads the OS since otherwise the files are locked, Linux file systems didn't have this issue so updates there always apply without a need for reboot, however it is still advised to reboot after Linux updates since the code running in memory will still be of the older version. I do agree that it would be worrying if it doesn't actually shut down all the way down and turns on at night on it's own to install the update, but if you solve this issue then the updates themselves are a non-issue. Them bringing in unwanted features is another.
There's a setting called "Allow wake timers" in the advanced power plan settings under [Sleep] which is for allowing/denying events to wake your computer up. Turning that off should allow your computer to stay in its sleep mode instead of it waking up due to the update service.
That's the issue of your work PC still using a hard drive in 2025. Even on a SATA SSD Windows 10/11 takes less than a minute to load from boot to desktop, assuming you're not loading any of your own crap on top.
It's written in React, just like the new taskbar and the new context menu. It's pretty trash yeah, but on the plus side the new taskbar being written in React allows for a shitton of customization via Windhawk. The double edged sword of webshit.
I've been using Total Commander for well over a decade and now I don't feel right when I have to use any version of Windows Explorer. Be it 98, XP, 7, or even 10 which is on my home PC and I end up opening it up on accident. TC is that much better that it's the very first thing I install on any computer or VM, and I carry a copy on my USB drive to use it on other people's computers.
You can't get the IT dept to install Everything on it? Assuming your workplace takes security seriously so you can't even run portable software on your system.
You should have used it back when cut/copy/paste/rename got replaced by glyphs alone in the right-click menu.
personally i use ReviOS, you can basically disable windows updates in settings
Filepilot is in beta and feels excellent to use. It still needs support for network shares though before its really usable. Unfortunately the dev has a really unrealistic pricing model as well. It will make you realize just how painfully slow the default file explorer is
The internet is a lot more cleaner now. How often do you find an installer installing RealPlayer alongside what you want?
Generally there isn't a need to use paid antivirus, and many antiviruses use a hostile business model that makes using them even worse. I think Norton 360 had something where it came as a free trial on computers but once the trial was up it would disable itself but not re enable the default windows antivirus
I think modern options of firewalls, regularly installing OS and application security updates, content blocker web extensions like uBlock origin,
Not that long ago I was considering uninstalling Bitdefender and just not running anything. Not even WinDefender.
