KS Window Update Manager

Product description

KS Window Update Manager is a professional Windows GUI utility (for Windows 10/11) that gives you fine-grained control over Windows Update behavior. It is designed to run as Administrator and lives primarily in the system tray.

Core Purpose

It forcefully stops most background Windows Update activity (feature updates, quality updates, etc.) while keeping driver updates allowed. This addresses the common desire to block automatic feature/quality updates without completely cutting off drivers.

Key Features

Forcefully stops background updates by:

Stopping and fully disabling the Windows Update service (wuauserv) and Update Orchestrator service (UsoSvc).

Attempting to disable the Windows Update Medic Service (WaaSMedicSvc) where possible (Microsoft hardens this one, so success is not always guaranteed).

Disabling a long list of related scheduled tasks that Windows uses to silently trigger scans and downloads.

Keeps driver updates flowing by ensuring the policy “Do not include drivers with Windows quality updates” stays off.

Background watchdog: A thread re-checks every 10 minutes (even when the app is minimized to the tray) and silently re-applies protection if Windows tries to restore services or tasks.

One-click driver-only check: Temporarily wakes the update services, triggers a device rescan (pnputil /scan-devices), and opens the Optional Updates page in Settings, then automatically re-locks the services after a short window.

System tray resident: Closing the window minimizes it instead of quitting. It supports tray notifications and a full context menu.

Single-instance enforcement: Launching a second copy just notifies you and focuses the existing one.

Optional “Protect at Windows Startup”: Registers a Scheduled Task (At log on, highest privileges) so the app launches silently and elevated at every boot with no UAC prompt, re-applies protection, and shows a notification.

License/trial gate: Uses an external ks_license module; the app checks license status on launch and can show tray warnings or a dialog near/after expiry.

Requirements

Windows 10/11

Run as Administrator

Python 3.9+

pip install pystray pillow (for the tray icon)

In short, it is a tray-based “Windows Update lock-down” tool focused on stopping automatic feature/quality updates while preserving driver updates, with persistent enforcement and convenient startup integration.