Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft's Get Windows 10 App, KB 3035583, Reappears (infoworld.com)

Posted by msmash on from the old-habits-die-hard dept.

An anonymous reader shares an InfoWorld article: Once again, Microsoft has unleashed the GWX Kraken, with no explanation and no description. The latest KB 3035583 appears as a "Recommended" optional patch for Windows 7 and 8.1. Those with Automatic Update turned on and "Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates" checked -- the default settings -- will see the patch as a checked, optional update, and it will be installed the next time Automatic Update runs. If you previously hid KB 3035583, it's now unhidden. I'm sure there are a dozen people on earth who still have Auto Updates turned on, "Recommended updates" checked, and who haven't yet accepted Microsoft's kind invitation for a free copy of Windows 10. This one's for them. In late March 2015, Microsoft released the first version of KB 3035583. Described as "Update enables additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1," the patch immediately raised eyebrows. In April of last year, a German researcher named Gerard Himmelein, writing at heise.de, figured out that Microsoft was sneaking a Windows 10 upgrader onto Win7 and 8.1 machines. Life for Win7 and 8.1 customers since then has degenerated into Win10 whack-a-mole.In some other news, Chinese news outlet Xinhua reports that plenty of users in China are unhappy about Microsoft's push to get them to mandatorily upgrade their Windows OS. "The company has abused its dominant market position and broken the market order for fair play," Xinhua quoted Zhao Zhanling, a legal adviser with the Internet Society of China, as saying.

10 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. Not the first time by LichtSpektren · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've had to hide KB 3035583 over a dozen times now. It's really not worth my time to micromanage this crap on every PC in my office, so I just installed GWX Control Pane: http://www.majorgeeks.com/file...

    1. Re:Not the first time by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Informative

      Of course, even with the apps it keeps installing all the addware and telemitry. Here is a list of things to remove, and remove again, and again and again... http://www.dslreports.com/foru...

    2. Re:Not the first time by NJRoadfan · · Score: 4, Informative
      From the bottom of the page:

      A final note: I'm a bit annoyed that “Never10” is as large as it is at 85 kbyte. The digital signature increases the application's size by 4k, but the high-resolution and high-color icons Microsoft now requires takes up 56k! So without all that annoying overhead, the app would be a respectable 25k. And, yes, of course I wrote it in assembly language

  2. Re:-1 Repetitive by LichtSpektren · · Score: 5, Informative

    Jesus Christ, we get it. Microsoft recommends people upgrade their operating system to the newest one. Big fucking deal, let it go. Reading Slashdot means like I'm continually kept updated on whenever Microsoft recommends people to upgrade. I don't need to be in on the loop about it.

    You didn't read the article. It's not Microsoft "recommending people" upgrade to to Win10. What they've done is actively circumvent the people that explicitly chose to deny the Windows 7/8.1 update KB 3035583 that installs GWX ("Get Windows 10"), which is the malware that silently downloads Windows 10 and tries to install it without the user's permission.

  3. Fedora? Mint? Whatever you want. by cfalcon · · Score: 4, Informative

    Install Linux, problem solved.

  4. Re:Windows 10 must not be doing so well... by Zaphoddd · · Score: 4, Informative

    sad but likely. netmarketshare reports Win7 - is at 47.82% and Win10: 15.34% the supposition that someone at microsoft's targets are not being met sounds plausible.

  5. Don't accept abuse. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 3, Informative

    It amazes me that people have been so accepting of Microsoft's abuse.

    3 ideas:

    1) Autopatcher has not begun supporting Windows 10. We need independent control over Windows operating system updates. How can we achieve that?

    2) Don't let Windows connect to the internet. Microsoft has a long, long history of releasing very buggy code and fixing it later. After fixing 2,722 vulnerabilities and bugs, Microsoft declared Microsoft Windows XP "end of life".

    3) We need international support for a Windows-compatible operating system, like ReactOS.

  6. Re:Bad marketing by LichtSpektren · · Score: 5, Informative

    So what's your favorite part about Windows 10, the 107 domains that the OS sends your personal information to, the uncontrollable auto-updates that reboot while you're in the middle of your work, or when the OS deletes programs installed on your computer so you'll use the Microsoft equivalent instead?

  7. Re:M$ Sales at it's finest... by chipschap · · Score: 3, Informative

    ... 99.9% of the people who are having Win10 shoved down their throats don't even know what Linux is, let alone would even consider switching to it as a desktop OS.

    Unfortunately you're right. Most people have no clue what's going on, and are easily exploited. Microsoft takes full advantage of that.

  8. Re:M$ Sales at it's finest... by dnaumov · · Score: 3, Informative

    and then almost lost her mind when she asked me if there was some easy way to go back to Windows 8 and I had to tell her no.

    Why did you lie to her? There is a 30 day grace period during which reverting back from Windows 10 to previous Windows version is roughly 3-4 mouse clicks away.

    Start Menu / Settings / Update & Security / Recovery