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'Get Windows 10' Turns Itself On and Nags Win 7 and 8.1 Users Twice a Day (infoworld.com)
LichtSpektren writes: As you may recall, Microsoft has delivered KB3035583 as a 'recommended update' to users of Windows 7 and 8.1. What this update does is install GWX ("Get Windows 10"), a program which diagnoses the system to see if it is eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10, and if so, asks the user if they would like to upgrade (though recently, the option to decline has been removed). Some users have gotten around this by editing Windows Registry values for "AllowOSUpgrade", "DisableOSUpgrade", "DisableGWX", and "ReservationsAllowed" in order to disable the prompt altogether. This advice was endorsed by Microsoft on their support forums.
According to a report by Woody Leonhard at InfoWorld, the newest version of the KB3035583 update includes a background process which scans the system's Windows Registry twice a day to see if the values for the four aforementioned registry inputs were manually edited to disable the upgrade prompt. If they were, the process will alter the values, silently re-download the Windows 10 installation files (about 6 GB in total), and prompt the user to upgrade.
According to a report by Woody Leonhard at InfoWorld, the newest version of the KB3035583 update includes a background process which scans the system's Windows Registry twice a day to see if the values for the four aforementioned registry inputs were manually edited to disable the upgrade prompt. If they were, the process will alter the values, silently re-download the Windows 10 installation files (about 6 GB in total), and prompt the user to upgrade.
This would be fine, if it actually worked. The Win 10 upgrade doesn't work on my system, for no other reason other than I converted from Spinning drive to SSD drive. The Win 10 Upgrade borks about half way through the install.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Seriously, people, why would anyone tolerate this bullshit? It's being made amply clear that Microsoft doesn't give a good goddamn what you, the end user, actually wants to do, doesn't respect the fact that your computer is your property and not theirs, and is just pushing their way through to do whatever the hell they want. How is this even legal? Why is there not a massive lawsuit against Microsoft at this point? How is it that they think they have the right to shove Windows 10 down everyone's throat?
This is the single worst thing Microsoft has ever done in my book. Basically, they are trying to gain control over every Windows PC out there. And it's not going to be optional if they have their way. Forcing you to download 5 GB of undesired files is just the beginning. Once you're locked in to Win10, all your data is theirs. They are transforming the desktop PC into a locked-down glorified cell phone.
Fiat Lux.
Try GWX Control Panel to disable GWX and OS updates entirely:
http://ultimateoutsider.com/do...
Also Spybot Anti-Beacon which disables telemetry:
https://www.safer-networking.o...
It works perfectly for me on Windows 7. And yes I know that all of what it does can be done manualy but these tools do their job and work well so why bother...
As someone who likes Windows 10 and thinks more people should upgrade and give it a chance... no, I'm not cool with overwriting the options you knowingly set.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
I don't have a problem with Windows 10. Overall I like it, much better than 8, and clearly more "futuristic" than 7. Free is a great price.
I am also very impressed with the "new" Microsoft under Satya Nadella. The company has done things I'd NEVER imagined they'd do, GOOD things...SMART things. Windows 10 being FREE was one of those things. There have been a few rocky issues, some high-profile like the Live One Drive storage space snafu. But overall, I've been impressed. The open source initiatives are just mind-blowing coming from Microsoft.
But this thing RIGHT HERE... THIS has been a fucking mess. Abject "What the fuck??" failure. First of all, people have stuff to get done, and small businesses often work on cycles. This thing is happening RIGHT IN THE SMACK MIDDLE of Tax Season in the US. Any idea how rickety the software that runs tax prep is? Trust me, this stuff isn't Win7 material. There are A LOT of small, independent tax preparers in the US. A LOT. And they all use Windows. And they're all getting nagged like crazy right now. I know, I'm getting the calls. They're not the only ones. QuickBooks Pro users, CRM users, and the list goes on. They can't afford this, not now, and they're not on Windows Home...they PAID for a Pro product to support OTHER "pro" software which is more important to their income stream.
It is bigger than that, even. Because Microsoft is nagging people running Win7 with hardware that just maybe SHOULD NOT be on Win 10. Core Duo CPUs, Intel Chipsets without driver support. And there is no opt out. No way to even say, "Hey, thanks for the offer Microsoft, but I'm just going to let this hardware which is running just fine on Win7 die with Win7." There is NO WARNING that Win10 will be incompatible with networking and wireless drivers, so that users' laptops will disconnect from the network after sleeping EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. There are NO WARNINGS that touchpads won't have similar levels of driver support, so people used to touch-tapping and driver-cobbled 2-finger dragging lose that. Nope. Nothing. And no way to simply say "This equipment just isn't ready and probably never will be...thanks, but please stop nagging me." And those aren't from little know vendors, mind you, that's from Intel! Synaptics! Broadcom!
And worst: Microsoft is pushing this upgrade onto sometimes ancient hardware, the gross majority of which on the backs of 5-year-old 5400rpm spinning platters from the sub-terabyte generation, WHICH HAS NEVER, EVER--NOT ONCE--been backed up. Suuuure, you get that 30-day restore Window. Yeeeeeaaaaaah. Good luck with that. More spinning and intensive read/writing to sectors never tested or touched.
So, WHAT THE FUCK, Mr. Nadella? Why? Just let users, especially Windows Pro users on older hardware, have a reprieve. Make it a year. Make it two. I don't care. But YOUR CUSTOMERS need the option to permanently stop the incessant nagging. You owe them THAT MUCH RESPECT for their business.
Scott
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
My office paid good money for several copies of Windows 7, because that's the only OS that our software is certified to run on. Microsoft has guaranteed four more years of security updates for Win7. So why exactly should we drop several hundred grand to update? Because you think we're geezers? Well, if you'd like to pay for the update yourself, by all means.
I had a family member who had a (smallish SSD) C: drive, with most data and applications on their D: drive. The C: drive had just enough free space to download the Windows 10 update, and then fail and crash attempting to install it. The update process is smart enough to check for and unset registry keys, but apparently not smart enough to check if there is actually enough disk space.
Ideology: A tool used primarily to avoid the bother of thinking.
Microsoft is tired of supporting old ass insecure software. They can't rely on people who won't run patches
I can completely sympathize with this frustration. My problem is not the annoyware pestering people to update their old ass insecure version but in the pushing of the entire update. Plenty of people have to use their phone in hot-spot mode or whatever kind of metered link to get some work done and the background download is killing it. Next time you're on a flight paying $$$ for the wifi that's already dead dog slow over satellite, tell me you don't mind someone a few rows over getting a giant update pushed at them.
Microsoft is tired of supporting old ass insecure software. They can't rely on people who won't run patches, so they are going the Apple route. They know what you need, just submit and deal with it.
I like Windows 10, using it on my surface 4 right now. Edge isn't awful, but I still use FF and Chrome.
I would say that let the upgrade happen, and while it's happening, adjust the onion on your belt and go outside and yell at some clouds.
No, Microsoft is tired of people using perfectly serviceable old software that is no longer a revenue source for them. Forget that it's a "free" upgrade...they make money on each and every installation by selling off YOUR data to third parties. It's NOT out of the goodness of their hearts that they want everyone to upgrade here.
So you're OK with the fact that Microsoft will bypass your settings and download 6 GB without prompting you?
This - especially this! For the majority of rural Internet users, 6GB represents roughly 50-60% of their monthly bandwidth allotment - and it ain't cheap ( a typical 12GB monthly plan runs around $50-60 or so.)
I wonder if anyone has tried to sue Microsoft yet over being shorted on bandwidth? On my part (yeah, I live in the sticks), I have only Linux and OSX at home, and given Microsoft's recent intrusions, I've become rather happy with my OS choices...
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
What's fair and what's reality are two entirely separate things. The short answer is -yes- get with the times; IT is a moving target of progress. There are cheaper options however; you can virtualize old Windows 95 boxes if you require legacy 16bit code to run over a mapped RS232 port as an example. It's ugly, but VM-ing an obsolete OS that's bound to custom legacy applications is doable.
Are you fucking kidding me? We should spend hundreds of thousands of dollars migrating to an OS that provides literally nothing useful to us, seizes control from our hands, and spies on us--for no reason whatsoever other than because it would be "with the times"?
Apple users tolerate it.
No, we don't. Because Apple to the best of my knowledge has never overridden user-configured settings when it comes to downloading or installing automatic updates. For years now I have disabled all of the relevant "automatic update" checkboxes in System Preferences, and Apple has never reenabled them and has never downloaded system updates without my permission. I have several old iPhones with various versions of iOS 6-8 on them and apple has never applied an OS update without my permission. Okay, I do remember being asked once or twice during major OS upgrades if I wanted to enable some of the automatic update settings, and once (*once!*) got a notification popup on my Mac asking me if I wanted to download Safari, but there's a clear difference between displaying a one-time popup and downloading 6GB of data to my machine *when I specifically asked you not to*, or installing Safari anyway, or even changing settings that you *know* I set manually!