windows updates set to off, but critical updates still creeping in

i had it set to off and it still updates, which i dont want, how do i stop it doing it

Did you look here: Windows Update Settings - Change

May i ask why you are doing this? Win7 firewall works purrfectly but is fortified by the critical security updates.

Using a 3rd party firewall is your own choice, of course, but not at all optimal for Win7 to maintain lightweight, instantaneous performance. I wouldn't settle for anything less.

the reason i wanted to do this was that i recently discovered a regedit which allowed me to see flv thumbs in winexplorer, i had some trouble getting it to work and am not fully sure which action made it work, and the next day it stopped working due to the updates windows had done, now i can't get it to show the thumbs, still trying, and when i do i don't want windows to update it and mess it up