Won't even need to stop the service, as long as you don't plan on removing those updates, then there is no harm in deleting the SoftwareUpdates folder.

If the Windows folder is too big on your Windows 11/10 computer, use the suggestions provided in this article to decrease its size and free up disk space. By default, the Windows operating system is ...

The Windows system consists of thousands of files. Many of them have strange names, others have extensions that most users have never seen before. Normally you do not need to worry about these files.