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Microsoft Is Downloading Windows 10 Without Asking

Posted by timothy on from the just-to-get-ready dept.

New submitter christhedj writes with a story at The Inquirer, according to which: Microsoft, having learned nothing from Apple and the U2 album, have started downloading Windows 10 as part of Patch Tuesday for Windows 7 and 8 users. For people on a 32GB flash drive tablet, that's a big chunk of space taken up with something that they didn't ask for. Microsoft admits to doing this, but users are not happy. Way to look needy, Microsoft.

14 of 867 comments (clear)

  1. That was easy by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was still on the fence about whether to stick to Windows 7 or upgrade to Windows 10. This just made my decision for me. Looks like I'll probably make the jump to Linux in a few years depending on how well they've got games running on Linux( since that is the only thing keeping me on Windows anyway).

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    1. Re:That was easy by jandrese · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You might be surprised at how healthy gaming is becoming on Linux. The Linux Steam client is helping a lot. I've been playing through Torchlight II and Bioshock Infinite (my backlog is kind of long at this point) on Linux and they just work. No mess no fuss just launch them from Steam and play. In my Steam catalog maybe half of the games are playable on the Linux side, and admittedly the Linux list is heavily weighted towards indie titles, but Steambox has been convincing some of the big name publishers to put in the relatively minimal amount of effort necessary for Linux support.

      A lot of it comes down to the engines too. If you build on Unity then Linux support is a no brainer. If you build on Unreal then you probably won't have Linux support, but even that is changing as engine developers are adding Linux build options now.

      That said, some big name titles are not getting native Linux versions in the foreseeable future. If you want to play GTAV you need a Windows machine, or really a console because the PC port was so halfassed to begin with. Generally if the Windows version of a game is barely functional they won't have a Linux version either. An exception is apparently Arkham Knight, which had a terribad PC port but somehow is still going to make it to Linux this fall apparently.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    2. Re:That was easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      and another shill. you'll be out of a job in a few years, you'll see.

      The fact is that Microsoft is terrified. They know that their time is up and this is the last desperate grab to try to stay relevant.

    3. Re:That was easy by mnooning · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You will be much better off waiting a year till the Windows 10 bugs are worked out.

      I upgraded to Windows 10 five days ago on one of my Dell GX960 Core 2 Duo machines. Windows 10 will *NOT* drive the HP LP2475w monitor that was working fine with Windows 7 at the recommended native resolution. The lowered resolution it will drive it at is distorted. I had to replace the machine with a different Windows 7 machine. I do not have any monitors smaller than 24 inch, and I do not have any Windows 7 disks, so I sat the trial GX960 on a shelf for now.

    4. Re:That was easy by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Probably worth noting that Windows 10 seems to have apps "disappear" and need restarting on an hourly basis, and that's with light load. "Mail" seems to be the worst.

      Also - automatic reboots. If there's one thing worse than having to shut down your power-compromised laptop, and then restart it when you're ready to use it again, it's having the device reboot all by itself and lose much of what you've done in the process.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    5. Re:That was easy by Al+Al+Cool+J · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Other than Linux failing to suspend and resume correctly on a laptop.

      YMMV, but I recently switched my Windows netbook to Linux and I can't believe how lightning fast it suspends/awakes now. I spent several days just showing it off to friends and co-workers. Suspend - awake - suspend - awake. It's like magic compared to how it used to be under Windows. This is a machine that under the light edition of Win7 had become so slow, I couldn't even use it to browse Twitter from a fresh reboot. Now it's finally a fully functional computer and not just a toy.

    6. Re: That was easy by GrantRobertson · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Hibernate and suspend are so unreliable on my Win7 laptop that I just stopped using them.

      I used to be a network manager, so I know how to fix most things. But I just got tired of messing with it and have up.

  2. Data Plan Blew Up by coop247 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My in-laws live in middle of nowhere Pennsylvania and had tried HughesNet for a few years but didn't like it. I told them to get one of the little wireless routers from Verizon, and they easily keep under their 2Gb limit.

    Last month she's calling me wondering how in the world she could have gone over her limit, and how they are going to charge her $30 and this and that. After some investigation, turns out it was Win10 downloading.

    Yeah, thats some shit right there.

    --
    //TODO: Insert catchy phrase
  3. We'll be here to help by raymorris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    > Looks like I'll probably make the jump to Linux in a few years

    Those of us who have been Microsoft-free for decades will be here to help whenever you're ready. Only if you're a Windows expert, they'll be a little bit of a learning a learning curve. For example, if you edit the registry manually on a regular basis, there's no registry on Linux. If you DON'T delve into the internals of the OS, you may hardly notice the difference, other than that you don't have to worry about software license keys anymore.

    My main tip to make transitioning simple:
    Don't ask "how do I run [brand name of software] on Linux?"
    Instead I ask, "How do I [accomplish task] on Linux?"
    As an example, it's much easier to do basic and moderate photo editing in Gimp than it is to buy Photoshop and get it running on Linux.

  4. Been doing this for few weeks now by X.25 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I had to travel recently, so I took a laptop with clean Windows 8.1 Pro install.

    At my destination, I've purchased a SIM (they only had 1GB data packages) and put it into the 3G/wifi router I carry.

    I powered the laptop, connected to Internet via said router, checked few things, then went away for few hours.

    When I got back to apartment, my data package (and Internet connectivity) was killed because Microsoft idiots decided to start downloading Windows 10 even though I have explicitly closed/rejected all the 'offers'.

    Those retards did not take into account the possibility that not everyone running Windows is on unlimited broadband data package. Great planning there.

    At home I did a plain install of 8.1 on another computer, and same thing happened - even though I explicitly rejected everything related to Windows 10, idiots made it so download starts anyway. I had to 'hide' the Windows 10 in Windows Update in order to stop it from being downloaded.

  5. Re:Arrogance? by LVSlushdat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you're already using 7 or 8/8.1, you're getting the same "telemetry" crap shoved down your throat, unless you take the time to research and remove those "updates" doing this bullshit, and THEN you have to trust MS to NOT put them back despite your removal/hiding them.. "Trust" and "Microsoft" are two words that have NO business together.. And if you think *this* is "way beyond arrogance" wait till you actually RUN Windows 10.. To defang/castrate it from all of the spyware "features", you have to visit regedit, gpedit.msc, to disable/remove this sewage.. Even after alledgedly disabling some of the worst of the lot, namely Cortana, you *still* have a Cortana process running, that cannot be killed... I'm a retired Windows support tech/network admin who retired in 2010, and moved all of my home systems to Linux in 2011. I've installed/tested Windows 10 on a spare "burner" machine simply to be familiar with it when friends/neighbors ask me about it or want me to help them with it, when it inevitably pukes its guts.. I used/supported Windows from Windows 3.11 (1991) to XP/Windows 7 (2010) and I'm DONE with any Microsoft product and thats my advice to anyone who asks.. Those who continue to use Windows are now members of the largest botnet in history. sending ALL of your business to Microsoft... I might as well go ahead and say it "FUCK YOU MICROSOFT!"

    --
    THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
  6. Re:Arrogance? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's worse than that. Microsoft has also decided that they're going to stop posting details about patches. Check out the patch notes for Windows 10 updates (like KB3081452) and all you'll get, and I'm quoting verbatim for that update, is:

    August 27, 2015, compatibility update for upgrading to Windows 10

    Summary
    This update makes improvements to ease the upgrade experience to Windows 10.

    What does that mean? Not a clue. But that's the entirety of the upgrade notes. Everything else is instructions on installing the patch. What does it fix? Does it add new "telemetrics?" Does it fix any bugs? Microsoft won't say!

    Windows 10 is without a doubt the worst version of Windows since Windows ME. If you thought Windows 8 was bad, just wait until you try Windows 10! Explorer locks up constantly, breaking the Start menu and the desktop. The Nvidia drivers are the most unstable thing ever, and have only recently been fixed to the point where they just get restarted constantly rather than hard-locking the OS constantly. The Start menu search is now broken and finds a random subset of the installed programs. Cortana search will "find" documents on your computer ... but then not provide any way to open them. Windows 10 "tablet" mode provides no method of opening the software keyboard while "desktop" mode does.

    Windows 10 is just completely, hilariously broken, to the point that Windows 8 seems amazing by comparison.

  7. Re:Windows update forcing me to 10 by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think at this point MS has finally made it where the risks of running Windows Update and getting files and features I don't want have outweighed the supposed benefits of keeping my system secure through Windows Update. No more updates, and Windows 7 is the last MS-OS I allow in the house.

  8. Re:Arrogance? by sconeu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nope. I ALWAYS disable that customer experience crap, and I got offered two of the three telemetry updates last time I ran Windows Update.

    Fortunately, I knew enough to not accept them, and to mark them as "hidden".

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.