As snowball said, it isn't about not updating, but about the settings not sticking, and that is a pain.
On the autoupdate or not there are reasons for choosing manual and one will give the auto fans some disquieting times. I prefer manual because rather than interrupting what I'm doing I can choose when the update (and perhaps reboot) will happen. Basically I set them to go while I'm having dinner and don't need the system. This delay doesn't compromise my security.
If you are under such imminent threat of malware that you require streaming updates every 10 minutes then your life will be a lot easier if you simply stop visiting pr0n and hacking sites and stop giving your email addy to every scam that you see on the net. That alone will decrease your vulnerability by 95%.
An interesting thing about viruses and malware that most people don't think about are their targets. It's accepted that they will do a number of things, but the
very first thing they do is try to silently disable the antivirus
and the updater. This way the malicious program can do it's work unmolested and even when Avast, AVG or whoever create a fix, your system won't download it anyway. The really cool thing about autoupdate is that you don't need to do anything and the program doesn't have to talk to you or ask permission for anything. Of course, this also means that unless you actually open the program and look, you have no way of knowing whether it's actually working or not.
I'll repeat that, you have no way of knowing if the autoupdate feature is actually working or not. Think about that for a while.
So while your compromised system is being used for all sorts of things and the bad guys are preparing to clean out your bank account and max your credit cards, you'll be here telling everyone how well protected you are. If they don't clean you out or do anything else really obvious, you might be wondering sometime around October next year why your AV hasn't updated to the 2016 version yet and realise then that you have a problem.
Scared yet?
Now while I think 4 hours is a bit excessive, I can handle it. Every 4 hours my Avast asks me to do an update and it bugs the hell out of me. And that's what I want. Regardless of which AV program you choose, or whether it's every 4 hours or just daily, those requests tell me that the program is fully functional and working and that I'm protected. If there is a successful infection the requests for an update will stop. With this warning I can pull the network plug and do what is required to clean the system, knowing that the bastard child of the son of a bitch black hat cannot do anything or call for help.
So if by some freak chance an autoupdate fan and I both got hit by the same infection, he'll find out either when the bank account is empty or around October next year, I'll know when the requests stop, a maximum of 4 hours.
By taking an active role in your system security you are constantly checking that all programs are working correctly. When the requests stop, something has changed and must be investigated.
I do accept that the logic is convoluted, but it saved my arse a couple of times.
