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Windows 10 Now a 'Recommended Update' For Windows 7 and 8.1 Users (betanews.com)
Mark Wilson writes: Microsoft has been accused of pushing Windows 10 rather aggressively, and the company's latest move is going to do nothing to silence these accusations. For Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users, Windows 10 just became a 'recommended update' in Windows Update.
This is a change from the previous categorization of the upgrade as an 'optional update' and it means that there is renewed potential for unwanted installations. After the launch of Windows 10, there were numerous reports of not only the automatic download of OS installation files, but also unrequested upgrades. The changed status of the update means that, on some machines, the installation of Windows 10 could start automatically.
This is a change from the previous categorization of the upgrade as an 'optional update' and it means that there is renewed potential for unwanted installations. After the launch of Windows 10, there were numerous reports of not only the automatic download of OS installation files, but also unrequested upgrades. The changed status of the update means that, on some machines, the installation of Windows 10 could start automatically.
to upgrade? Our MSP says never. They say we have to buy all new licenses since there is no upgrade available.
Microsoft is sick and tired of customers resisting their latest shiny upgrade, and downright pissed off when they resist successfully, as with Vista and 8. So they are going all-in on establishing the capability to push any and all code/UI they want, for any purpose they want (DRM/adware/spyware/forced account login/whatever), to your machine at any time. If the current Windows 10 updates are this evil, imagine what they'll be like when users have no alternative.
What's the KB code number so I can hide it?
Whipslash arrived and fired you immediately. Farewell and thanks for all the stories and dupes over the years.
Rather than fiddling with keys and password recoveries, we have just installed Linux Mint.
No complains or further questions. People use computer for browsing mostly.
MSoft only has our best interest. Sheez. So sensitive.
Let me just say, "don't".
Never mind the spyware. I had Win8.1 for 18 months before I "upgraded" to Win10. Since the upgrade I've had:
1) ctl + left mouse to move a window. Release the wrong button first and the window goes full screen instead.
2) Random mouse locations when clicking left button. Ex: in a web browser hit the back button, it goes full screen. In a web browser click a bookmark group, it minimizes. etc etc etc
3) Close laptop, go to bed. Get up in the morning, laptop has installed updates and rebooted, wants your permission to continue.
4) Default app behaviours change suddenly. Just this morning I opened a pdf on my hard drive and Edge opened it,, not the pdf file viewer I've used for the last few years.
5) Uptime seems to be a week. If it's not updating then when you open your laptop it just doesn't respond.
I bought this laptop November 2013, it came with Win 8.0 and I immediately upgraded to 8.1. Had no issues. Mistakenly "upgraded" to Win10 last summer, all the above issues have plagued me since. If I had to do it all over again I would, in order, stay 8.1 (I'm a gamer, need Windows), go Linux, go Mac, go Win10.
Next it will be a critical update.
Here's my recommendation to Microsoft, go fuck yourself.
You want to fuck up my Windows 7 machine? You want to fuck me with your ads and spying on me? See my recommendation above.
I've made it my business to never do what Microsoft recommends. That has served me well over the years.
who misread the title saying Windows 7 and 8.1 were recommended updates for Windows 10.
Windows Revenue is down 50% because of the mobile revolution. Then there are technologies like Citrix that are challenging Microsoft's dominance in corporate America.
The new business model is obvious; monetize non-business customers by trapping them in a windows through a walled garden while selling their personal information to the highest bidder while protecting the corporate deployment base.
Microsoft thinks all their customers are mom and dad surfing e-mail on their home pc's when in reality they just killed tens of thousands of small businesses, small pc shops, SOHO offices and so forth running windows PC's with legacy code. This is the knucklehead moment where they behead themselves and the market realizes just how dangerous Microsoft really is. They are going to tick off a lot of people and impress nobody if they pull this off successfully; given the state of the market and computers in general I doubt they are going to get out of this unscathed.
This freaks me out
"Close laptop, go to bed. Get up in the morning, laptop has installed updates and rebooted, wants your permission to continue"
They don't consider how this crap works in a slow internet environment. I'm on boat in Mexico. Internet is slow when you can get it at all. I don't have the bandwidth for your ads and your spyware. I need weather data! Ever try and use outlook on slow internet? it spends most of it's time [not responding]!
I had a situation where my long range wifi usb port pulled out. So I figured I'd just change my mac address on my notebook to the one that died so I can keep using the internet service I paid for... but NOOOOO they block me from doing that.
What happened to when a computer used to be a tool? Now it's a spyware machine I'm supposed to pay for?!
It's very confusing how Mucrosoft says they want everyone to upgrade, but they block Vista and all Enterprise versions.
Well, that does make Enterprise worth the money...
Just in case you're looking for another reason not to switch.
I put this conversation up as a discussion topic here on /. - http://answers.microsoft.com/e...
Com port management has never been great in Windows and in Win 10, if you are doing device development work or working with different devices which allocate com ports, you may find yourself running out of them and/or applications no longer working because the allocated port number is higher than the range the application handles.
Very disappointing non-response by Microsoft and their employees.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Yep. They just made all those alternatives (Android tablets, chrombooks, Mac, Linux...) a lot more attractive.
Indeed, I'm glad I used my MSDN to install 7E on all my machines. No stealth OS upgrades...
I know, right? That's pretty sad that they can't even give it away for free. They have to force it.
During the leadup to the release of Windows 10 at the end of July of last year, I remember that they were repeatedly stating that it would only be free to current Windows users for the first year after its initial public release (July 29, 2015).
Given MS's actions since with regards to Windows 10 and how they are pushing the upgrade that people have to explicitly opt out of, I believe it is quite apparent that they were only saying that to try and encourage people to adopt it early, and never had any intent to charge for it at all.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
At least I wasn't told to reimage the PC...
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
That's .... ugly. I had no idea.
Why does MS feel its so important for us to upgrade?
I’m happy with Win 7, and the accounting program we use in the office is not Win 10 ready, and many of the games I play are not Win 10 ready.
I don't understand why MS feels they have to force Win 10 on us when many are perfectly happy with the Win we have.
So what? The value of a Windows 7/8/8.1 user is $0 to Microsoft. The value of a Windows 10 user is $x per year. The only thing that matters is converting as many people as possible to Windows 10. If in the process they break a PC that cannot possibly run Window 10, then it's not a loss.
In other words they're making it as difficult as possible to avoid upgrading.
Why don't you test to HTML standards instead? That way your website will work no matter who browses it.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Although I have a number of legitimate copies of Win7, I much prefer my pirated copy that disables all updates.
Yeah, yeah, security/viruses. IDGAF when it's been a decade since I've gotten one and I back everything up. Don't download or browse sketchy shit.
"How to manage Windows 10 notification and upgrade options:" https://support.microsoft.com/...
Windows 10 is terribly unpredictable. It'll sleep with your wife if you leave the room.
And don't you think that Microsoft will find a way to disable the GWX control panel and push Win 10 anyway?
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
It is like this because not all MCUs support USB device mode netively and also because it is easier to program the MCU to communicate in RS232 and then stick the converter chip between it and USB and then use the driver provided by the manufacturer of the chip instead of writing your own. This is suitable if the device does not need high speeds, the FTDI chips can do about 1mbps IIRC.
This is great for things like device programmers, 3d printers, diagnostic and/or control of industrial machines and other low bandwidth applications.
Of course, real serial ports are still used, for example for console access of a managed switch (mainly for initial configuration or recovery) or other similar devices. Hell, I even use serial console (on linux) on a couple of servers to hopefully get some diagnostic information if the server crashes.
I've got a laptop that we use to support a robotics team; it came with Windows 10. Its a real pain in the neck that there is no way to block updates; the last thing we need is a misfortunate update that alters some critical aspect of behavior just before a competition. I guess Microsoft is very confident that they will never hash things up since they have removed all control from we who own the computers.
I'm *not* thinking of replacing any of my current home computers with Windows 10.
I would not be surprised if Microsoft made Windows 10 a subscription that you have to pay if you want to continue using your PC. It would explain why they impose a 30 day limit on rolling back to your previous OS. Once you're locked in, you're fucked and will eventually have to start paying your Microsoft rent.
I had one worse than that. Playing Fallout 4, not triggered an autosave in a while, hit esc so its paused while I have dinner, come back to my linux log in screen. Windows had decided to reboot my machine for updates WHILE a full screen program was running. Brilliant.
I agree. Microsoft seems to be moving toward a subscription model. That means that all computers using Windows will have to connect to the internet frequently, otherwise Windows won't work. Adobe Systems does that with Adobe CS6.
Most people don't defend themselves against slowly increasing abuse.
I've been posing (and pondering) this question ever since I was convinced that Microsoft was not charging money for the upgrade to Windows 10:
Why?
One of the major business model innovations underlying Microsoft's "success" is ignoring the end user. Microsoft has increasingly focused on selling to the makers and the end users are basically forced to go along. Yeah, Apple survived (after a near death experience), but I'm still doubtful that the most creative accountants can show profits from the OS side of their business model. Linux remains a niche player for lack of any good business models, but MS got fat from the manufacturers.
Now Microsoft suddenly bites the hands that have been feeding it? Actually, more like gnawing off the arms at the elbows. The makers are in a commodity business of the nastiest, lowest-profits sort, and many of them can't afford to skip the new-box sales for a year or so, just because so many older machines suddenly become like-new again.
MS has plenty of cash in the bank. "Honey badger don't care" which makers survive. There will be at least a couple of makers around to sell new computers, and Microsoft will just pick up where it left off. However, it has also become pretty clear they are trying to muscle in on part of Apple's business model, and maybe the google's, as well.
Evidently all the makers can say is "That hurts."
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
When a business no longer provides a worthwhile product or service which it can sell, it switches to lock-in/rent-seeking mode.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
It makes it worthwhile to install a pirate Enterprise version over a legit Home or Pro one.
Heck, in the bad old days it was a good idea to do that to get rid of Norton etc. crapware and claim back gigabytes lost in a recovery partition.
Microsoft provides full instructions to disable the Windows 10 update offering.
Spoken like someone who's never written a public facing website
I was just dealing with the fallout from Microsoft's upgrade push today. My mother upgraded from 7 to 10 and 10 would no longer support the 1600 x 900 her shitty HP monitor wanted to do. If I hadnt come along she would have been stuck on an extremely low rez setting (which is all Wondows 10 would support on her monitor) for god only knows how long because there was no driver update for her crappy on board video card to solve the problem.
Was that specifically Miscrosofts fault? No.
Should they have been pushing an OS upgrade like they were on people with old crappy hardware? the answer is also no.
I put her back on system 7 and everything works fine now.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
I'm going to get a new gaming PC sometime next year, and probably I'd "have to" run Windows 10 on it.
Luckily, I can still get Windows Server 2016 from Dreamspark.
Looks like it will have all the features of Windows 10 with bits that allow you to turn OFF all the nastinesses.You can just install Audio and DirectX support and play. I know of friends who have done this with Windows Server 2012, so it should be ok.
As a bonus, I can have a domain controller in my home, so that if wife ever needs to have Windows 10 in her computer, we can just have it join the domain and remain in our control, not Microsoft's.
Ha! I don't have a wife!
Foiled again, Microsoft!
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
You say that like it (not being made to downgrade to 10) is a bad thing.
Man am I glad I scraped every vestige of the Win10 malware droppers out of both my system and the machines of assorted family and neighbours I support some months ago, and switched Windows Update to manual. Now I can control what does (security fixes) and doesn't (the Win10 droppers) get installed.
I've had a couple of family members bring me their laptops with Windows 10 issues. While I'm for people learning about their own computers and taking decisive actions, but the current Windows 10 upgrade push is irresponsible. From Microsoft's perspective things are looking great if this works. More people will be on the later versions of Windows. Great for them.
But this push is advertised to EVERYONE, regardless of hardware age. So that older Toshiba laptop gets an upgrade courtesy of grandma pushing yes to the Windows 10 prompt. Everything installs correctly until a week down the track when there's obviously something wrong with the NVidia drivers, or the bluetooth stack. Head off to the Toshiba support site to grab drivers and only 8.1 is supported with NO intention of providing anything later. And they aggressively version check in the setup, so a very manual installation is required. Same goes for HP.
While I think it's great getting everyone on a level playing field. I think they really should make sure that the hardware is supported by the vendors before recommending the upgrade.
Task Mangler
Games usually close without prompting when you press ALT+F4. They can handle the WM_CLOSE & WM_QUERYENDSESSION events; open a "Do you really want to quit" dialog and prevent a logoff. But I haven't seen many games that do this properly.
09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
Windows 10 is terribly unpredictable. It'll sleep with your wife if you leave the room.
That happened to me the other day. My wife said the laptop went to sleep on her after ten minutes, just like me.
Give it time man, the threads now 4 pages deep. Ramesh has to be getting close to the end of his script by now!
[Sorry, this signature is unavailable in your country/region]
I had one worse than that. Playing Fallout 4, not triggered an autosave in a while, hit esc so its paused while I have dinner, come back to my linux log in screen. Windows had decided to reboot my machine for updates WHILE a full screen program was running. Brilliant.
This technology was pioneered by Microsoft waaayyyyyy
back in Windows 95. LAN game, midnight hits, all the Windows PCs drop to the desktop and show a dialog saying that Windows is about to be rebooted for daylight savings time. All the windows users scream, all the DOS users laugh and laugh, and those of us familiar with Unix as well point and laugh, because a system that needs to reboot because the clock needs to change is beyond hilarious.
Microsoft is the retard in the room. They are completely beyond incompetence, technically. If it weren't for their illegal anticompetitive behavior under Bill Gates, Career Criminal, today it would be "Microsoft who?"
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Why does DirectX have such a hold on gamers?
Because 3dfx made their own API (GLIDE) instead of implementing MiniGL from the outset. That opened the door for Microsoft to do the same thing, even though they already had a software OpenGL implementation in-house. (An old, crap one, to be fair, but at least it was something.) You can thank 3dfx for their non-standards-based driver for Direct3D even being a thing.
Is there nothing out there strong enough to compete and let people get off of windows?
That's not what this is about. People didn't use Direct3D because it was the best thing. They used it because they were windows developers and it was the primary windows way to do 3D graphics. Now we are stuck with it due to inertia. Most of the time, OpenGL has actually been superior to D3D. Hell, in the early days of D3D you literally couldn't plot a pixel over a 3D display without using GDI! Criminal. But people used it anyway because Microsoft said so.
The other thing that helped D3D proliferate was Microsoft's game consoles, for which it was the only 3D API. Those games regularly get "ported" to the PC, which basically means the input code gets rejiggered. Obviously, those are all D3D titles.
With that said, any indie developer who uses Direct3D is a dildo.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I predict new pc sales will go through the roof. My dad asked me to upgrade his laptop to windows 10. Three hours later, he had a new OS, but without wifi and lan. That's the time I realized his laptop is too old. Tried a quick search for drivers, put them on a usb stick etc, but couldn't get it to work within half an hour. To put an end to the frustration I bought him a new laptop. Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have given up so soon, but it's better for everyone this way.
Please login to access my lawn
Ten minutes? What do you do for the other eight?
You are welcome on my lawn.
Run services.msc
Find Windows Update
Change start type to "Disabled"
Fixed!
Are there Linux replacements for SolidWorks, Altium Designer, or Adobe Premiere?
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
LibreCAD, Altium runs through WiNE (I use it), OpenShot or KDEnLive. You're welcome.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Jeebus, look at how complicated those instructions are just to disable it. If they had wanted to they could have made it a simple checkbox in the install pop-up.
I don't know why MS is pushing this update so crazy hard. But it's made me NOT want to install it...not ever. I actually was interested in upgrading to Win10 at first. But seeing how aggressively they're pushing it has made me suspicious that something skeevy is going on here behind the scenes. No way am I going to install it now.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
Seriously, the Win10 upgrade crap has reached the point where it's effectively malware.
AV/Anti-Malware providers need to start killing it on an automated basis.
And a lawsuit needs to be brought against Microsoft for infecting their users computers with it.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Witcher 3 is the best game I've played in recent memory and probably the best RPG I've *ever* played (as a gamer of 30+ years) and it's not on the support list ;/ Waiting for Blood and Wine with my season pass.
I'll stay on Windows 7 as long as I can as a gamer but I will under no circumstances "upgrade" to 10 and I actively steer people away from it. The sad thing is there are really no commercial alternatives that they can just go buy something. No one wants to learn how to install Linux - even something "easy".
Apple is just as bad or worse than Microsoft, Google is the lesser of the major evils but getting progressively worse as time goes by. I think there are probably some family members I could put on Mint or something but the second they try to go like install a little kids game for Windows and it doesn't work they'll raise hell and doing free support sucks, while they periodically fuck up their Windows machines they at least have some (very) modest ability to use it.
I can't say "just get an X that runs Y" because for my g/f's parents or whoever it doesn't exist that supports their existing program and no one likes changes - especially "senior citizens".
Jeebus, look at how complicated those instructions are just to disable it. If they had wanted to they could have made it a simple checkbox in the install pop-up.
Yes, but then people would have used it.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Why not to use this situation to make him use Ubuntu or something of the linux world
what specific features of a public facing website can't be implemented in standard HTML and CSS?
Those features whose implementation in standard HTML and CSS requires parts of the standard that widely deployed browsers implement either A. incompletely, B. incorrectly, or C. (for parts marked as implementation-defined) in a manner whose behavior matches neither of the major free browsers (Firefox and Chromium).