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Windows 10 Home Updates To Be Automatic and Mandatory

Posted by Soulskill on from the remind-me-in-4-hours dept.

AmiMoJo sends a report stating that Windows 10 Home users don't seem to have any way to disable automatic updates to the operating system. Throughout the testing of the Technical Preview, users noted that this option wasn't available, but it wasn't clear whether that was intended for the full release. Now that the suspected RTM build has been distributed, only two options are available regarding update installation: update then reboot automatically, or update then reboot manually. A quote from the EULA seems to support this: "The Software periodically checks for system and app updates, and downloads and installs them for you. ... By accepting this agreement, you agree to receive these types of automatic updates without any additional notice."

The article notes, "This has immediately raised concerns. Today, if a Windows user finds that an update breaks something that they need, they can generally refuse that update for an extended period. ... For Windows 10 Home users, this isn't going to be an option. If a future update breaks something essential, the user is going to be out of luck." Windows 10 Pro users will be able to delay updates for some period of time, and Enterprise users will have update functionality similar to that of Windows 8.

9 of 628 comments (clear)

  1. Who makes these decisions? by tom229 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously. It's mind boggling how out of touch the tech industry has become.

    --
    If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
    1. Re:Who makes these decisions? by Lumpio- · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The users. They can vote with their wallets, and refuse to use Microsoft software if they don't like it.

    2. Re:Who makes these decisions? by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just don't take the "bait" and don't "upgrade" to free Windows 10. At least for desktop users there is no advantage over Windows 7 pro or ultimate. To me, Windows 10 seems like a downgrade from 7 ultimate.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    3. Re:Who makes these decisions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      MS's approach actually seems sensible to me and for the better good.
      1) If you know enough about patches to delay them, and manually manage them you should probably be using Windows Pro anyways.
      2) This will help discourage businesses from using Windows home in the business which is a good thing.
      3) Hopefully this will create better communication with MS and 3rd party software vendors so they can release updates which don't break things. (which is less likely to happen to home users anyways... in my experience it's the highly custom proprietary software inside of companies that usually breaks)
      4) this has an easy work around... use the Pro version instead of Home, which is what I normally recommend anyways. I used to charge 2x the hourly rate to work on home versions of XP, Vista.... not as bad with Win 7, etc... but still...

  2. Secure Boot by tepples · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not if alternatives to Microsoft software are impractical to procure. As of Windows 10 launch, Microsoft is allowing PC makers to lock users into Secure Boot. With this in place, and with trialware allegedly more than subsidizing the cost of a Windows license, I don't see laptop makers other than System76 and Apple caring about anything but Windows.

    1. Re:Secure Boot by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Informative

      Sigh....right click on the computer icon>choose "manage">choose "services"> disable Windows Update Service...tada! You can even control it via Task Scheduler if you want to check on certain days or times.

      Personally I'm waiting until WSUS Offline has Windows 10 support before I think about switching, I have Win 10 on an SSD so I can just pop it in but so far? I'd say its a big "meh" when it comes to the desktop when compared to Windows 7. On laptops, especially those still using HDDs? Its under the hood speed ups make it worth checking out but on a desktop with SSD? It has more irritations like Cortana and the fugly as fuck settings/control panel mess while not really offering any "Wow I have to have that" moments....and who in the fuck thought that those fonts and icons were the way to go? The faded fugly explorer, icons that look worse than KDE 1, I'm telling my customers to wait and see because right now? Really not impressed.

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      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    2. Re:Secure Boot by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The people who have a valid reason to not get them will know how to do this or it will be a quick google search away. The people who can't be bothered to figure it out are precisely the people who should have auto updates on.

  3. Easy fix by corian · · Score: 5, Funny

    Windows 10 Home users don't seem to have any way to disable automatic updates to the operating system.

    Can't they just install the Samsung Update utility?

    http://tech.slashdot.org/story...

  4. Five reasons to need Windows by tepples · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Would it be valid to say any of these?

    • We need Windows because the application we use is listed as Garbage in Wine AppDB.
    • We need Windows because we installed Wine from the distribution's repository and the application we use failed in X, Y, and Z ways.
    • We use an application that controls a hardware peripheral, such as a CNC mill. We need Windows because the application depends on a Windows-exclusive device driver for this peripheral, and Wine is designed to run applications, not drivers.
    • We produce a web application. We need Windows because we need to ensure that it works in Internet Explorer 11 and Edge, which are components of Windows.
    • We produce a desktop application. We need Windows because we need to ensure before we ship that the Windows version works in genuine Windows and doesn't depend on bugs in Wine.