Disable Windows 10 automatic restart after updates

Settings > Update & Security > Advanced Options 

Then just turn off some of the options, top three or most importantly the one that says  "restart this device as soon as updates are available"

I just encountered another forced reboot last night.

Also, every time I get new updates, stupid edge sets itself back as the default PDF viewer. I already have a functional PDF viewer installed, I don't need my settings being changed without permission. 

A while back I thought MacOS was weird and foreign. Never had an interest is using it. Now I have to use it for work, and although it takes quite a lot of getting accustomed to, it has never force restarted to install system updates.

CHOICE is what your customers are asking for - stop trying to make Windows 10 like an iPad.

I'm a software developer and this really drives me nuts about Windows.  Someone said something later in this thread that rings perfectly true.  This is something Apple would do, which is why I hate them.  Give me my options and don't force me to do things I don't want to do.

I too am a developer, and I use a Mac Book and a Windows 10 Notebook - over the last couple of years, the Mac OS has gotten better, while Windows 10 seems to have gotten worse. The Mac Book doesn't seem to force reboots when updating, which is something Windows 10 should never do either. I leave applications open overnight quite often - and I expect them to still be open when I unlock by machine. FULL STOP.

GIVE ME MY OPTIONS AND DON'T FORCE ME TO DO THINGS I DON'T WANT TO DO.... <--- MS YOU NEED TO LISTEN.

...and don't get me started on the start menu.

C.

Yes, I was the one who made the Apple comment. I agree with this also. Microsoft doesn't usually do this sort of "Apple Knows Best" type of crap, but they are starting to do it now and it is really starting to get annoying. My personal reason for preferring Microsoft, Google and Android over Apple stuff is that I have more freedom and am allowed to do what I think is better, not what they thought was better. That is the strongest point of these companies (in my opinion that is). So yes, if they lose these freedoms then I am afraid I will consider them to be on the same tier as Apple. 

Obviously from my posts you can tell I absolutely despise Apple, their founder and all their policies, but I know that is the less popular opinion. Either way, they can take their black turtle neck shirts on a black background and go pound sand.

Ok now I am just aimlessly venting. I am just angry that even after doing my best to stop these forced restarts they are STILL happening. I REALLY hate coming back to my desktop to see that it restarted itself when I told it not to. And they think they are sneaky but I have many indicators of a restart such as programs changing their state, servers being back up that should not have been on, applications bring in recovery mode. They need to take this shit out.

Ok I'm done.

With regedit, navigate to...   or establish... 

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

Create REG_DWORD (dword 32-bit) for AUOptions and set to 2 .... 

There are other postings online about this setting, you can alternatively use gpedit.msc, but it is not the same as the older instructions posted in this thread that used to work until recently.  Here's one link with references, but it's difficult to navigate because the page has multiple instructions and adds to scroll through... https://www.partitionwizard.com/clone-disk/disable-windows-10-update.html

This infuriates me! I've lost valuable work because of this, and because it's so unpredictable.

Microsoft needs to realize that we are going to disable this one way or another, so they should re-evaluate how this should be implemented. I would be more than happy to have some thing live next to my task bar icons that makes it clear I should reboot, or something less intrusive like that; then I wouldn't be trying to find a way to disable this entirely, completely defeating the purpose.