This was one of the primary reasons I upgraded to “Pro”. I had started taking the updates again recently, but after my recent adventure I turned them off again. It is not as easy to do if you are using the "Home" version however.
Here are more specific instructions:
Solution 2.
Change the Setting of the Group Policy Editor
The Group Policy feature is not available in the Home edition. So, only when you run Windows 10 Professional, Enterprise, or Education, you can use the Group Policy Editor to change the settings to prevent Windows 10 from automatically updating.
The group policy editor will notify you of new updates without automatically installing them.
Press the Windows logo key + R then type gpedit.msc and click OK.
Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update.
Double-click Configure Automatic Updates.
Select Disabled in Configured Automatic Updates on the left, and click Apply and OK to disable the Windows automatic update feature.
Note: If you need to update your Windows version later, you can repeat the steps above, then select Enabled to turn on this feature, so that you can continue to download the updates.
https://www.easeus.com/todo-backup-resource/how-to-stop-windows-10-from-automatically-update.html
i didn’t find it that difficult to disable updates as i indicated in my post,which was on a W10 Home version ...
however, either way, Group Policy-wise or otherwise, disabling updates is beyond the capability of the average consumer ... so millions of people get their PCs trashed on a regular basis when Microsoft repeatedly sends faulty major “upgrades” once or twice a year that clobber parts of their systems ... I’m surprised that Microsoft hasn’t lost all of their W10 consumer customers by now ...