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Windows 10 Upgrades Are Being Forced On Some Users (arstechnica.com)
grimmjeeper writes: According to Ars Technica the Windows 10 upgrade option is being selected by default for some users. A dialogue box is appearing that only permits them to reschedule the upgrade process, not cancel it. "For the first year of its availability, Windows 10 is available for free to most Windows 7 and 8 users, and Microsoft has been trying to coax those users to make the switch by delivering the operating system through Windows Update. Until now, the OS has been delivered as an optional update; while Windows Update gives it prominent positioning, it shouldn't be installed automatically. This system has already generated some complaints, as Windows Update will download the sizeable operating system installer even if you don't intend to upgrade any time soon, but, over the last couple of days, the situation seems to have become a little more aggressive. We've received a number of reports that people's systems are not merely downloading the installer but actually starting it up."
Update: 10/16 11:35 GMT by S : Microsoft said, "In the recent Windows update, this option was checked as default; this was a mistake and we are removing the check."
From the article - 'In the recent Windows update, this option was checked as default; this was a mistake and we are removing the check.'
That is one heck of a mistake!!!
My only PC I haven't upgraded requires Windows Media Center to record TV; add media center to Windows 10 and I'd be happy to upgrade from Windows 8. Otherwise, they can go shove it.
-SaNo
Many employers require staff to run earlier versions of Windows to maintain compatibility with certain software. I could see how this could severely interrupt workflow if pushed too aggressively.
A National Security Letter will get almost any corporation to play ball.
Microsoft better curtail this.
Remember the last round with the Web browser, and later the media player? Small potatoes. Imagine what happens when someone running bootcamp runs this and borks their Mac. Or someone dual-booting Linux and completely obliterating the Linux partitions.
And by "thanks" I mean, "thanks for nothing, you pricks."
I'll happily stay on Win 7 until my PC breaks and it can't be fixed or until I get hardware for which there are no Win 7 drivers. Then it'll be time to switch to Linux, perhaps an Unbuntu distro or Mint, which I've heard good things about.
MS knows i"m not alone in feeling this way, and apparently my desires conflict with their business plan.
So I might as well ask now, what distro would people recommend switching to for a desktop box? Or better yet, which ones should I stay away from?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
As much as I hate to do it, If they don't stop this Windows 10 push garbage I'm going to turn off the automatic updates feature. I'm running Windows Media Center on a windows 7 box and I DON'T want the upgrade, at least not until there is some option for a replacement DVR solution that can playback protected content. Please Microsoft, STOP pushing this, I don't want 10 (or 8 for that matter) so stop asking.
I've noticed that Microsoft is getting really pushy about this upgrade thing and has pushed yet another update that has that annoying "Get Windows 10" icon even after I uninstalled and blocked the first update with it. I disabled the Icon notices, but I really would love to unload the new update. Anybody know which update this new one is?
All this really does is convince me that as soon as somebody can come up with a Linux alternative that his fully DRM blessed to play back protected content from my Cable Card tuner, I'm switching and ditching Microsoft and their "we rule the world, do as we say" attitude.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
From the article - 'In the recent Windows update, this option was checked as default; this was a mistake and we are removing the check.'
That is one heck of a mistake!!!
Remarkable how mistakes are always in their favor.
So I just just set my mom's computer not to automatically update? Her computer will never get patched if that happens.
has caused me to disallow it on my network due to privacy concerns. My Wi-Fi router password does not need to be stored by Microsoft. This is one of those instances where I really thank God I know and use BSD and Linux to be able to avoid the likes of this junk. I told my wife she needs to either get a MacBook or Linux replaces the Windows 7 install. I removed the MS KBs that would allow Windows 10 to be installed and also removed the additional telemetry crap. No one but me needs knowledge of my passwords.
From what I've been reading, it doesn't matter if you turn off Automatic Updates or not, it still goes right ahead and downloads and attempts to install itself.. just like any other malware.
Here's an idea: Find the executable in the Win10 install package that's run, go into it's Properties, Security tab, set 'Deny' for 'Read and Execute' for 'SYSTEM'. Should prevent the installer from running. If the OS changes the permissions against your express wishes, or it just keeps downloading new copies, then Microsoft is violating their own system security scheme; in that case, if it wasn't already time to get out, now it'll be time to get out and find a different OS. I've never been a huge fan of Microsoft (have managed to never pay for a single legal copy of any version of Windows) but I've put up with it. This behavior from them takes the cake, though; I'm done. The next box has to have something other than Windows on it. I can't tolerate an OS that countermands my express wishes and takes away all control from me like that.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
I bet in a management meeting, the top boss screams out: "I want X new installs by Y, or you are outta here! I don't care how you do it, just get it done!"
The operative phrase is "I don't care how to do it".
Table-ized A.I.
I support quite a few companies and Microsoft have created so much hassle for me recently with this, we now try to block these updates from happening, but, like most people, the first wave caught us off guard. Windows 10 is not compatible with 2nd gen i3/i5/i7 processors with internal graphics - it causes many BSOD and various system problems after about 30-90 minutes usage. Intel have not to date released a driver upgrade. Microsoft does not block these systems from upgrading to Windows 10.
We have 6 machines. 4 of them upgraded no problem. One had a legacy bios / efi upgrade problem. Windows 10 is nice, an improvement over Windows 7. Everyone here really likes it.
:-(
The 6th machine on the other hand is a single partition machine that has gone from XP to 8.1 without a hitch. Windows 10 repartitions the disk and leaves it unusable (RAW) every time the upgrade runs. Auto upgrade there would wipe out the machine
No, just go into optional updates, select the windows 10 install update and right-click "hide update".
Bam, it won't auto-run.
...
Reality. Just ran intothis. It lets me select updates, but the install is replaced with a "Download Windows 10" button, and it keeps checking the box for windows 10 for installation no matter how many times I uncheck it. Awful behavior.
Went to fire up my Windows 10 VM today. It was a technical preview which allows me to upgrade to a full Windows 10 Pro version, but I am locked out. First it said it was outdated, Then it quite updating altogether.
Now it says a component expired and I need to hit F8 for recovery except nothing happens with F8.
A tad frustrating.
Want to know the truth? Get an XP box with no updates connected to the internet without a firewall? Countdown to infection is around 30 to 45 seconds!
I saw that paraded so much that eventually i tried it, and no it is complete bullshit.
You aren't as right as you think. There was a time when a fresh install of XP was indeed infected before updates could be downloaded from Microsoft. That pretty much ended with SP3. Actually, I think it was addressed with SP2, but the first SP2 also broke XP on AMD machines, causing an endless reboot cycle. Naturally I was quite biased against SP2 for that reason.
Just because your experiment failed doesn't mean that the stories are lies. I experienced that "complete bullshit", thank you very much.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
I did that (hide the Windows 10 install update). Guess what? When I "check for updates" it's back, and selected by default. What are also back are the other updates I've hidden that backport telemetry to Windows 8.1 (although they at least aren't force-selected for install). Hiding does no good.
I have Windows 8.1 on a partition for use when I absolutely can't avoid doing something under Windows (thankfully not often). Otherwise I never even touch that steaming pile and run off my Linux partition, where I can get work done without having to watch my back, not just for hackers, but to protect myself from the vendor that wants our trust and does everything possible to lose it.
It's true - last night I put my OSX Macbook to sleep, opened it this morning to find Windows 10 installed. And it didn't even have Wi-Fi on, damn thing came in over Bluetooth!
Was smooth at first, but now I'm seeing that was a mistake. These update issues are a real headache when I'm trying to get work done. Plus, I imaged to a bigger HD, windows would refuse to let me login. I ended up having to "reset" windows, which removes all apps, preserves user data, and reinstalls Windows. Now I can't activate it for some fucking reason. And when I reboot after reinstalling an app uninstalled during the reset, it tries (and fails!) to update. I'm not sure what's more frustrating: the cluster fuck that it is or Microsoft isn't saying shit about it.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
To use a widly targeted and popular OS like WIndows without AV and updates is batshit insane for any system to be connected to the internet. Want to know the truth? Get an XP box with no updates connected to the internet without a firewall? Countdown to infection is around 30 to 45 seconds!
Windows by default = stealth mode firewall. Vast majority of residential users = NAT. Classic time to own scenario and arguments well past their sell-by date.
I question any user who says proudly he does not update his computer with a smile who calls himself a computer geek. I hope the Russian hackers who put flash ads with malware have not cleaned your Mom's bank account yet
Trash flash.
Oh that is right I bet you are probably one of these users who thinks if you do not install software you are 100% safe and no exploits in flash, chrome, IE, or in javascript that of course will never get patched
Not keeping browser patched is asking for it.
..however it fits PERFECTLY with their recent actions, so I REALLY DON'T FUCKING BELIEVE IT TO BE A MISTAKE.
like, first they make the fucking popup come up every 15 mins or so to get you to download the update, then they port some 'diagnosis'(presumably to diagnose why people are not installing windows 10) back to 7/8, then they move to downloading the update in background regardless.
THEN they start popping up the installer WITH ONE BUTTON.
would MS do such a mistake? I mean, this is the microsoft that has already for few years perverted their own UI standards to coax people into making choices they want the user to make rather than giving the user a clear choice to decline, there's ample examples of that behavior such as on new windows installation making screens that have a button element and another button that's a link element that _functionally_ both act as buttons - the one that is made to look not like a button however is the choice they don't want you to make - so it would fit perfectly with that UI shenigans to make on purpose a popup that had no cancel button on it since "hey if the user closes the dialog then that counts as a cancel, amirite???".
it's bullshit. and it's remarkable bullshit coming from a company that had nailed the easy to use window UI down 15 years ago already and should just have stuck with that and their own guidelines that they did with real science and real user studies that just were done to benefit the user, since that it has been downhill for them(really, win2k era was the pinnacle, then they started skinning and just doing cutesy shit and now even worse they started to 'guide' the user).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
That solution is only acceptable if you trust Microsoft - which I personally don't.
In fact they clearly have the better cards in the long run, in the end you would have to treat any Windows-machine as 0wned by Panella and he has full access to the programs that run while you have none.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and opine that MS has been "asked" to help fill up that big new NSA data center in Utah, and they really really need EVERYBODY to be running Windows 10 (or 7/8/8.1 with the spy-ware addons) to fill up that big beautful treasure trove of OUR data...... Tell me my tinfoil hat's too tight, I don't care.. Thats what it looks like to me... Thank goodness I've given up sucking from the MS tit, and moved all MY systems to Linux...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
Once again proving the old adage that "it's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission."
It's hard for me to believe that was a "mistake."
An effective "democracy" creates the illusion the people have a say in their government.