There have been loads of times when updates are ready but i want the computer / laptop off and ready to move asap (to go home from work and take my laptop with me). was so annoying having to wait for windows to update when i didn’t want to.

I have found a way to shutdown windows 7 without being forced to install the updates…

Run regedit (search in start menu)

Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
if the keys “WindowsUpdate” and “AU” aren’t there just add them (right click > New > Key)
right click > New > DWORD
name it “NoAUAsDefaultShutdownOption” double click it and enter value 1.

the “shutdown” button will never be changed by Windows Update from your default action to “shutdown and install updates”.
If updates are ready to be installed “shutdown and install updates” is instead displayed in the [>] menu to the side of the shutdown button

On my system it happend almost as soon as the registry value was added, but you may need to reboot before the change is applied.

Also important is “NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers”, also a DWORD in the same location with value 1. This stops Windows from rebooting automatically if a user is logged in or you leave it working overnight for example.