What to do when W10 update captures the PC ?

4 weeks ago I set up a brand new (Windows 10) HP 255 G4 laptop, for my wife. The installation was the suggested, (and only visible) "express installation", so everything was installed exactly as MS wishes, without any strange setup, and the laptop has worked normally for 4 weeks.

Anyway, yesterday evening there was the first strange issue with this laptop. Suddenly, when my wife was reading an own Word file on the PC, the W10 updating took

control of the laptop, for 1hour and 50 minutes !!! (After that the PC worked again)

-What could have happened if she had been connected to her bank, at the moment of "capture", and some important transfer just going on ?

-Or if a deadline of sending a document by e-mail would have been near?

Any suggestions, is there anything reasonably simple to do about this matter? Please note, that this is a standard laptop, set up with W10 recommended "express installation", in normal light use, and no "exotic" setup have been done. More than normal setup can't really be expected to be done by a standard user !

I have been using MS operation systems ever since 1987, starting with MS DOS, and would like to continue, (so those people talking about "hating" and "bashing" and going to other OS systems etc. PLEASE RESIST FROM POSTING),  however I do not find acceptable this W10 way of totally "capturing" the computer with immediate updates, making the PC into a "brick" for almost two hours.

regards

JahnG