Which type of installation do you use?
Notepad++ Installer 32-bit x86: Take this one if you have no idea which one you should take.
Notepad++ zip package 32-bit x86: Don’t want to use installer? Check this one (zip format).
Notepad++ 7z package 32-bit x86: Don’t want to use installer? 7z format.
Notepad++ minimalist package 32-bit x86: No theme, no plugin, no updater, quick download and play directly. 7z format.
The autoupdater is named gup.exe under Notepad++\updater and has a corresponding config file gup.xml. Gup.xml could be modified to avoid that the update page could be found or could be removed as in the minimalist package.
The gpup.exe in the same folder is the updater for the plugin manager.