Honestly people, I get a real KICK out of much of this nonsense that somehow "magically" unpatched Windows installations will be infected and 'taken over' and added to 'botnets' merely by virtue of being unpatched! LOL!!!
While the historic truth is that the weakest link in ANY device security can be found between the operators chair and keyboard it ought to go without saying that any device operated in irresponsible ways in hostile environments are more than likely to be compromised.
However I'd HOPE that many of the (assumed 'technical') readers here know and understand possible infection entry points and how to mitigate and/or eliminate them all together. :)
This feature should be included by default in Windows 12. You can turn off automatic updates in Windows 7/8.1. I don't know why M$ started shoving updates down ppl's throats with Win10/11
Microsoft is rolling out new Windows 11 update controls that let Insiders pause updates with no set limit and always choose to shut down without installing.