Visual studio setup – Microsoft Q&A

Visual Studio setup executables appear when the installer checks for or downloads updates. To reduce how often this happens, adjust the Visual Studio update behavior in the IDE:

Open Visual Studio.
Go to Tools > Options.
Expand Environment and select Product Updates.
Change these options as needed:
- Turn off Automatically download updates if frequent background downloads are not desired.
- Turn off Automatically apply the latest update on close (“Always update on close”) so updates only occur when manually requested.
- Choose an installation mode such as Download all, then install so downloads and installs happen less often and more predictably.

After these changes, updates (and their setup programs) will only appear when manually triggered or according to the less aggressive settings configured, effectively reducing their frequency.

References: