Actually, Microsoft's current strategy for pushing updates is to "accidentally" break the options that let you withhold updates for a period of time. They've broken them like three times in the last six months, arbitrarily forcing large groups of Pro users to later versions of Windows than they should've gotten.

I found a way to get rid of windows updates. You just need to not have enough disk space... Every time I boot, I have a modal asking me to free more than 8GB to start the update.

The goal isn't to "get rid of Windows updates". Windows Updates are important. Of course, we do need to control those updates better. And Microsoft needs to be better about keeping those updates stable.

I only meant it as a joke, I'm just wishing Windows Updates would be less bloated than they are now, it would help speed up the process and keep customer complaints down. Also I don't need to wait 20 minutes in front of a blue screen when I do updates in Ubuntu.

On the contrary, I've completely disabled OS update checks via OS X's settings menu on both my personal (El Capitan) and work (Sierra) computers. I've managed to keep both up to date on security updates while avoiding obnoxious High Sierra update reminders quite easily.

iOS is terrible in this regard, however. I've only managed to keep my phone on iOS 9 through a bug/workaround involving a tvOS beta cert.

The iOS 9 upgrade dialog was terrible. It would appear seemingly at random, often (but not always!) first thing in the morning as I was just unlocking my phone. Sometimes it would appear while I was in the middle of swiping around.

I was one mistaken tap away from accidentally upgrading to iOS 10 and losing access to my phone for the next hour or however long it took.

They finally got me. I'm on iOS 10 now. It's ok. One great feature is that the insistent iOS 11 upgrade dialog requires a passcode to actually do the upgrade, so it's very easy to avoid triggering it accidentally. It still pops up randomly though.

I can't stand the fact that iOS will download updates without asking... even when not connected to a charger. I've been on terrible train station wifi in a foreign land and noticed that an update "is now available!" Absolutely horrific decision from Apple on that one. The only way to stop it? Filling your phone with enough music/video/pictures that iOS can't fit the update in there...

You can disable this. In iOS 11, go to Settings > iTunes & App Stores and disable Automatic Downloads > Updates.