An update: I have now installed The Witcher 3 on my PC, and remarkably it can run it very well, even though according to the specs, I should have set all graphics to their lowest setting. Not so. This 15 year old i5 PC is doing great, amazingly so. And I also got a mod that allows Geralt to finally sit down, so no more staying on his feet 24/7... Phew... Let the adventure begin! (Also, he got his hair back as in Witcher 2, which is a plus. Not sure what did it because he didn't have it on PS4 and I didn't install any hair mods. Perhaps GOG did it when no one was looking. Good job.)

Glad your game's running well!

Not a technical issue, but I got hit with another YouTube "Switch to Prime or disable your Adblock" threat yesterday morning. Turns out my Firefox Adblock extension hasn't been updated since Nov 2023. Switched to Brave Browser, which has its own built-in Adblocker enabled by default. No YouTube threats (yet?) using Brave! My current issue with Brave is that, since having to reinstall Win10 due to unrepairable boot partition corruption, I no longer have my favorite and/or most essential websites appearing on its "new tab" page. It's gonna take some time to rebuild those. I'll do so at leisure when I first need to visit one of those sites, rather than make a time-consuming intense project of it.

Had to rebuild that myself when switching to Chrome as Firefox started having issues with youtube.


Have you tried Adblock Plus, Decrepit? It works by fast-forwarding the ads right to the end immediately and since it doesn't outright block anything, youtube can't detect it and make a fuss! If you try it with Firefox, maybe you don't have to switch to Brave

You folks seem to have more issues with YouTube. My only issue is it's way too expensive, if you want to buy into the full package. And I kinda have been thinking about that because there's some content on there (such as the Xena show) that I can't get on Netflix or Hulu or HBO. But those three services are cheap! Hulu (with HBO) is about $7.00 a month, thereabouts. For YT it is a LOT more.

By the way I read back a page; still not sure what shorts are. They don't seem like commercials. Maybe I'm lucky I'm not seeing them.

Is there any such thing as a program which BLOCKS updates. I'm having issues with the forced Windows updates Microshaft keeps forcing on this computer I'm typing on now. It is possible to Uninstall updates of course. But it takes over an hour to uninstall the one which keeps messing things up. I mean, this is MY computer.

This post has been edited by Renee: Jan 13 2024, 05:38 PM

Shorts are basically Youtube's version of TikTok clips.


I don't know how newer version of Windows work, but you should be able to simply disable automatic updates if you go to Windows Updates in your Windows maintenance area. I did that as soon as I bought any of my computers and never had an issue.

AH I see. Tik Tok gives me a headache, so yeah I can definitely relate.

I just did a little research, and yeah, you are right, crow. It's looking like I can just go into the Start menu and keep diving. Supposed to be a way to disable automatic updates, which is good. Leery of installing some program (unless you folks know it's safe).

Be back later!

I think you should be able to go to the Control Panel and then Windows Update and from there disable it. You should not have to install any program.

There is no way to disable updates. I've been through my menus every way & back & forth. There is only a way to delay the next update, which I've already done 3x so far. My computer is telling me I've already met the limit there.

Windows 10, by the way. On my gaming computer (which is Windows 8) I do remember there was a way to disable auto-updates.

Anyway, gonna try to research this further.

Here's an article on how to permanently disable updates in Windows 10 (until you are ready to enable them again, which can be done). I have not tried this myself.

Thank God for Windows 7

Good to know. Thanks

Thanks Decrepit. I found a solution yesterday while surfing, which led me to a different set of windows. But I was able to Disable them, I think. We'll see. If that solution doesn't work in the long run I can try the one you posted.

I use Winaero Tweaker. It's a utility that allows you to set all sorts of things, including disable updates. It's very easy too.

I just switched to Linux. No more forced updates.

Screenshot of desktop?

Thanks Lena. That's what I'm looking for, if I have to install a program, is one of us saying "this works and it's safe".

Yeah, I've been using Winaero Tweaker for years. Even our IT department had to admit it was safe.

Looks a lot like a windows desktop. Will get a Pic later.

Well it's been 4 days, I think I'm in the clear now (knock on plastic). No forced update, nor have the annoying messages shown up recommending I manually update. Interesting thing, the method I found after an internet search is nothing near to what Decrepit found, nor did it seem related to the normal Start menu options at all.

I was told to enter the Start menu > Settings and then typed gpedit.msc into the search bar (I think). This opened up an entirely different section (different program?) of my home computer called Group Policy Editor. From there I followed a path of options until I was able to disable updates.

My question: what is Group Policy Editor?