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Microsoft Auto-Scheduling Windows 10 Updates (tomshardware.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the embrace-and-extend dept.

Pikoro quotes this report from Tom's Hardware: Windows 10 has been with us for a little over eight months now, which means there are only about four months remaining to get a free upgrade from an older Windows operating system. As the clock counts down, Microsoft has begun to auto-schedule PCs to upgrade to Windows 10 with or without consent from end users.

Now, as we near the end of the free upgrade period, Microsoft's malware-like upgrade system is becoming even more intrusive by autoscheduling upgrades to Windows 10. I noticed that the Windows 10 upgrade reminder pop-up on a Windows 7 PC was no longer asking me to upgrade; instead, it's now informing me that it has already scheduled an update for May 17.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps has discovered half their computers unexpectedly can't remotely upgrade to Windows 10, slowing their transition to what they expect to be a much more secure operating system.

14 of 506 comments (clear)

  1. fucktards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...

  2. "Auto-scheduling..." by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Funny

    In that case, my laptop (for convenience, the only device of mine running Windows) is now auto-scheduled for a Linux installation this year...

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
    1. Re:"Auto-scheduling..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      So you decided to go for speed and security over invasion and lack of security?
      Can't say I blame you.
      I've helped lots of people load GRC's Never10, but Linux is even better.

    2. Re:"Auto-scheduling..." by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That won't fix the "my programming experience on Windows is shitty" problem, though.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  3. What a coincidence... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have scheduled a migration to Linux Mint on the exact same date!

    Well, jolly.

  4. Re:Dear Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    And a lot of complaints as those XP / Vista machines struggle to boot due to lack of drivers.

  5. Confirmed by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Confirmed.

    Yes, this happened to my instance of Win 7 on my laptop just a few days ago. I *never* gave permission for a Win 10 upgrade and *specifically* deselected the stealth updates....and fucking Microsoft went ahead and "upgraded" it to Win 10 anyway.

    But it gets worse.

    Upon booting I'm presented with a Login screen that insists on a password. This machine never had a password on it, but now it does and I have no idea what it is. I cannot get in to my own PC now. Apparently I need some sort of Windows Live account or some other password, but I honestly have no idea. I am locked out of that entire partition.

    My files are there, but I can't get to them. I can't login and so I'm literally locked out of my own PC thanks to the Win 10 forced upgrade.

    Fortunately, I installed Linux Mint on it a while ago, and so that's what Ill be using on it from now on I guess. I can boot into that partition at least.

    Thanks Microsoft, you shit-eating pukebags.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:Confirmed by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Upon booting I'm presented with a Login screen that insists on a password. This machine never had a password on it, but now it does and I have no idea what it is. I cannot get in to my own PC now.

      Something is wrong with this story, because the above makes no sense.

      More likely you have an infected computer or someone else played with it or you don't know what you're doing.

      Windows 7/8 upgrades to 10 don't change or insert passwords.

    2. Re:Confirmed by David_Hart · · Score: 5, Informative

      Try this:

      http://www.chntpw.com/reset-fo...

      Make sure to rename the files back to normal after you get back in to your system.

  6. Nuked my local game store's POS software by danielbeaver · · Score: 5, Informative

    My local game store's Point Of Sale laptop started updating to Windows 10 on it's own in the middle of the work day. It was during an MTG release/tournament day, so he had tons of sales that he was frantically trying to keep track of in a makeshift ledger book. And then, of course, his POS software wasn't working once Windows 10 finished installing - it was an older software package, I'm not sure exactly which. He ended up buying a newer edition, and transferring is sales database to that, but only after staying up late trying to troubleshoot his old software. What did this Windows users gain from this experience? A lot of stress, missed sales, flat icons for his UI. Thanks, Microsoft.

    1. Re:Nuked my local game store's POS software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's like blaming a guy for receiving a box of poop in the mail because he didn't tell the mailman once a week "Please do not mail poop to me."

    2. Re:Nuked my local game store's POS software by maugle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Can you imagine if this attitude was taken by any other company?

      "Keurig agents have been sneaking into people's houses and replacing their Keurig coffeemakers with the new, fancy Keurig 10.0. However, the Keurig 10.0 is incompatible with all old 3rd party k-cups. To avoid being 'upgraded', you should leave a sign saying 'do not steal and replace' by your coffeemaker, but the Keurig agents will remove the sign sometimes so you need to make sure to keep replacing the sign if it disappears overnight. Reports have also surfaced of the Keurig agents occasionally ignoring the sign altogether, so some people recommend having someone in the house stay awake by the Keurig at all times to decline the upgrade."

      "Tesla owners are facing a forced upgrade to the Tesla Model FU, which now runs on diesel. Tesla officials say that, to decline the upgrade, simply park your car facing towards Redmond when the upgrade agents come by to check. The upgrade agents can come by to check at any time, including when you're in the middle of driving."

      I could go on, but do you get my point? People should not be required to be actively vigilant about keeping their equipment from suddenly having massive (and potentially ruinous) changes forced on them.

  7. Turn off "GWX" by DigitalSorceress · · Score: 5, Informative

    For folks who aren't terribly computer savvy (So.. theoretically not Slashdot)

    Go get "Never 10" freeware from GRC... it uses the officially Microsoft sanctioned means of permanently disabling the whole "Get Windows 10" stuff

    https://www.grc.com/never10.ht...

    This is a good option for "mom support"

    For those willing to muck about in the registry:

    Open Regedit, navigate to the following key.

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate

    Important: If that key doesn't exist, you'll need to create it.

    Create a DWORD value called DisableOSUpgrade and set it to 1

    There's also a good quick and dirty:
    http://www.windowsmechanic.com...

    --

    The Digital Sorceress
  8. Don't want Windows 10? by NormAtHome · · Score: 5, Informative

    GWX control panel http://ultimateoutsider.com/do... it'll remove the Windows 10 upgrade app and prevent an automatic upgrade.