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Microsoft Removes the 'X' From Windows 10 Update Leaving No Way Out (theregister.co.uk)

simpz writes: The Register reports that Microsoft has changed the Windows 10 update dialog and no longer shows the "X" close button. They say once agreed to there is no obvious back-out method and it is now out of step with Microsoft's own documentation on this. They have a screenshot of this. As noted above, the latest move is out of step with Microsoft's Knowledge Base documentation, which says you can re-schedule your upgrade.

34 of 664 comments (clear)

  1. alt-f4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Try Alt-f4. Works on many apps and usually forgotten by most devs.

    1. Re:alt-f4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      False. Refuse all the optional updates, accept all the critical updates. You can easily configure windows update to do this.

      I have been running windows 7 like this, and never once seen a peep about windows 10 (except on the MS website, of course).

    2. Re:alt-f4 by nmb3000 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe - except that Microsoft already take it as "OK" if you close the window.

      ALT+F4 sends the WM_CLOSE message to a window, where the default message handler cleans up and closes the window. Reassigning that to call the same method that the OK or Save buttons do would be against conventions, convoluted, dastardly, and require malicious intent.

      So.... yeah. It probably launches the Windows 10 update installer immediately.

      --
      "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
      /)
    3. Re:alt-f4 by WheezyJoe · · Score: 5, Informative

      False. Refuse all the optional updates, accept all the critical updates. You can easily configure windows update to do this.

      THIS. I have Windows 7 with GWX Control Panel (reviewed here) installed,
      and under Control Panel --> Windows Update --> Change settings, I am set to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them",
      and (most important) "Recommended updates" is UN-checked.

      There is also a tool Never 10 (Peter Thurrott writes about it here). But always make sure you make the changes above to Windows Update.

      When updates announce themselves, accept only those updates for Windows listed "critical" and "security", as well as Windows Defender updates. That's it.

      So far, no problems on any of my systems. MS is being pretty shitty about all this, but they haven't yet stooped to calling 10 a critical/security update. However, anyone not savvy enough to take the above steps (e.g., parents) might be in for some trouble. So, spread the word, or suffer endless calls from suffering masses.

      --
      Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
  2. Unbelievable. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The power of inertia is incredible. I can't imagine putting up with a vendor that treats their customers this way.

    1. Re:Unbelievable. by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's been working for Oracle for years!

  3. a fix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

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

  4. Hahahahaha FANTASTIC by cfalcon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Technically this is an improvement- it is no longer a dark pattern, there's no more trick. Obviously the sane thing to do is to simply stop forcing this OS change on the users, but each Windows 10 user must generate so much ad revenue that it is worth trying to stomp out each and every one.

    Anyway, whatever. Install Linux, that's your only long term fix. You can turn off updates in Windows 7 or 8, or you can get some binary that tries to fight Microsoft on this, or you can do some doodlefuck in the registry. The point is, you're fighting the OS distributor, who is no longer trustworthy. Install Linux, or you must like this shit.

    Shill prediction: At some point in the near future, the "free upgrade" goes away. At this point, however, they'll still offer it for free for users of assistive technology: ( https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.c... ). That's nice of them, but that *probably* means that pretty much anyone will still be able to get it for free, by turning this on. So the shill prediction is: that this becomes a "cool trick" that gets posted on forums and stuff, at some people looking to "pull one over" on Microsoft.

    Windows 10 uses you. You're the revenue source, because they sell ads. Of course they are willing to let you be a revenue source at no cost to them!

    1. Re:Hahahahaha FANTASTIC by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Installing Windows 10 is not a fix for having Microsoft forcibly update your system. Once you have Windows 10, every update acts like this and cannot be rejected.

  5. Re:fuck me by cfalcon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Alllllll these workarounds. Man, wouldn't it be great if your OS wasn't overtly hostile?

  6. All Your Base Are Belong to Us by speedlaw · · Score: 4, Funny

    All this time, I thought that was a joke.

  7. Reject the EULA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just reject the license upon reboot. Previous version restored!

    1. Re:Reject the EULA by by+(1706743) · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not sure why this is modded down -- I walked into the lab one day to realize that our computer had decided to upgrade to 10. I rejected the EULA, and it restored 7 (it didn't even take too long).

    2. Re:Reject the EULA by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So you just waste a bunch of gigs of bandwidth (not everyone has unlimited) and time for the install and restore. Then you repeat this when it tries the update again. Plus the chance that the restore might not work properly. I'm not saying that it won't work but that it does have some negatives.

    3. Re:Reject the EULA by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 5, Funny

      Free as in beer, free as speech, or free as in herpes?

    4. Re:Reject the EULA by DaHat · · Score: 4, Informative

      It works, but there can be negative side effects... great example being the TPM.

      If you've a TPM in use under 8.1 (at least), after upgrading to 10 it will be tweaked in such a way that it will only work in 10, even after a reset/reinstall of the OS to a lower version.

      Worse, because of the changes, the 8.1 UI is unable to clear the TPM so you can re-take ownership of it. Even PS TPM Cmdlets fail you... only a non obvious WMI call can get you back to normal.

      Source: I hit this on my personal SP3 after I ran screaming from 10 on it (though run it elsewhere in my home happily).

  8. What is there to say that has not been said? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft is just digging itself deeper and deeper into a hole, from which it may never be able to extract itself. Enjoy your sprint to the bottom, Microsoft.

  9. This fixes a UI failure by imidan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The close button (red X) didn't work as users expected. It was a user interface failure, and Microsoft solved the problem. Now the dialog box correctly tells users, as MS intends, that their options are to upgrade now or schedule a time for upgrade. No more users getting surprised and outraged when closing the dialog box results in an unexpected Windows 10 upgrade.

    Whether or not you are a fan of MS's upgrade approach, this is a solution to the UI problem. We can still be outraged about forced upgrades, but this isn't a terrible fix.

    1. Re:This fixes a UI failure by KlomDark · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Whatever dude, I'm a long term .NET developer, and run Win10 on most of my machines. But two I do not want to upgrade. I'm getting fucked with constantly with this shit and for the first time wondering if I really want to bet my future on Microsoft. Currently without them, I can't pay my bills, but wondering if I need to make the big jump.

      I'm extremely fluent with Linux, having supported it in professional environments for big companies in my previous career. But a bit worried about all the new systemd shit as well, that's gonna make my experience a bit degraded. And no way in hell I'm going back to Systems Architecture/Engineering. But there's really not much from a programmer's point of view in Linux. It's either fucking java or some crappy interpreted language. Was looking happily at Mono, but now that Microsoft's bought Xamarin it's pretty much a dead end.

      Microsoft is really coming off as an Oracle-level asshole corp at this point. They need to stop. Really not liking the shitty direction the Satya Nadella era is bringing to them. I think he'll get ran out of town pretty soon, he demonstrates he has no respect for anyone using Microsoft products.

    2. Re:This fixes a UI failure by wierd_w · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The issue here is that MS is acting like they are confused over what the user wants.

      They want to assert that the user has given permission, and that this is the end of the story. Users assert that they have said NO to the installer many times, and have even turned on the friendly registry flags to tell MS that they dont want the upgrade.

      MS has ignored these, and done upgrades anyway, getting more and more forceful and obstinate.

      So, force them to do something clearly malwarelike:

      When you first set up your new Win7 deployment, proactively create a folder named GWX under %systemroot%.

      Good. Now, set an ACL on it. (you can do this from the command line on versions of windows that neuter the GUI, "because end users dont need that.") Put an express DENY (no, not just uncheck allow, like you were trained to. no, outright deny. we really mean it.) on write, read, and execute, with propogation to child objects enabled, and do this for TrustedInstaller and System users, as well as the administrators group, and the builtin admin user. Only allow redaction of the change from your own, personal administration account that needs your password to be used.

      Turn on automatic updates.

      Watch as the GWX "update" fails to install, each and every time microsoft tries to install it.

      Give MS the finger, and laugh.

  10. Ransome-ware by goombah99 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It seems like a thin line between what MS is doing and what ransom wear does. Both force you to comply with some demand or lose access to your computer.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:Ransome-ware by SCPaPaJoe · · Score: 4, Informative

      don't agree to the license agreement. Done. End of discussion.

    2. Re:Ransome-ware by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought ransom wear was a burlap sack?

  11. Re:get over it by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you bought something, that doesn't give the vendor the right to later on take it away from you. And don't start with the "license" bullshit. Like any upgrade/downgrade, you should be able to accept or reject it.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  12. The New Pop-Up: by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Menu of Choices:

    1. Upgrade to Windows 10
    2. Upgrade to Windows 9 + 1
    3. Get Windows 10 for Free!
    4. Install the latest Windows version from Microsoft
    5. Restart your computer, and then have it automatically install Windows 10
    6. Let Microsoft decide for you
    7. Ten, Windows, upgrade to. -Yoda
    8. Just do it, dammit, it probably won't kill you
    9. Go to 1.

  13. Re:Escape? by phrostie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    there is always a choice. there is always a path to escape.

    one of many.
    http://cdimage.debian.org/debi...

  14. Somewhere, in a darkened office... by wierd_w · · Score: 5, Funny

    There lies the domain of the MS Marketing director, who having submitted to the mandatory prefrontal lobotomy (a corporate requirement for the position), sits within the pallid cool glow of his curved LED monitor, simply cannot fathom what is making the users angry.

    "It costs too much!" he mocks. "Make it free like OSX!"

    So we do-- We make it a free update! We put it on Windows update, so it is convenient. Our telemetry tells us that most of our users dont subscribe to MSDN news sources, so we make it super easy to inform them about the update with the GWX app...

    But there is no pleasing them!

    First, they say that using windows update to spread awareness is a misuse of the critical update delivery pipeline-- So, we deploy additional telemetry software to verify the claim, and help synergize with development for the new programming apis we will use going forward, and now they complain we are spying on them!

    So, we install those telemetry updates in updates more specific to that development harmonization, and they freak out even more!

    Corporate wants to know why these users arent on board with windows 10, despite the free upgrade, and wont get off my back! What am I supposed to tell them, since those users keep uninstalling the telemetry suite that would let us know more about the issue!

    Now, to top it all off, they complain about the functionality of the close button widget.

    Ok, so we change the behavior-- they are still mad.

    Ok, so we REMOVE the widget-- Even angrier!!

    What is it that these people want!!?

    (at this point, an intern enters the dread specter of marketing's office with a thick slab of useless paper copy to make his daily delivery, since despite email being a thing for over a decade, there are those in corporate that still insist on old fashioned interoffice memos. In a quivering, mewling tone reminiscient of a prepubescent youth, the freckled mouse of a man hazards a conjecture to his corporate master, knowing the perils of doing so.)

    Perhaps they just dont want the update, and dont want to be told about it anymore?

    At this, the dread specter of marketing erupts into a ballmer-esque frenzy, toppling his chair, and spraying thick droplets of foaming spittle as he rages--

    DONT WANT THE UPDATE!? DONT WANT IT!?

    he shrieks, grabbing the thick slab of papers from the poor interns hands, then throwing them in the air.

    FIRST THEY COMPLAIN ABOUT HAVING TO PAY EVERY 3 YEARS, THEN WHEN WE RESTRUCTURE FOR THE NEW ADVERT MODEL, THEY DONT WANT THE UPDATE!?

    Cowering on the floor, desperately trying to recover and recollate the precious memos that justify his position in the company, the intern timidly responds.

    Perhaps they wanted us to respect their choice of when to do the update?

    FUCK-EM! the prince of darkness snarls, returning to his desk and grabbing the back of his chair in a livid clawing motion. WE HAVE A SCHEDULE TO MEET, AND WE ARE BENDING OVER BACKWARDS FOR THESE INGRATES!

    Does that mean that we will proceed with the forced updates sir?

    The room fills with a thick, suffocating silence for a good seconds, as the knuckles on the back of the chair turn white with rage-clenching, followed by unnatural relaxation. In a now buttery smooth, and altogether inhumanly relaxed tone, the dread specter of marketing smiles deeply..

    Of course we will. We owe it to them, after all.

  15. Re:How is this legal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you think this all stops July 29th, you're delving into some twisted fantasies far stranger than pr0n.

  16. Re:get over it by ZipK · · Score: 4, Informative

    Individuals only got support for Windows 7 until 1/13/2015. They aren't included in the 2020 support plan, and Microsoft is under no obligation to support home users for Windows 7 anymore.

    As per Microsoft's lifecycle policy, Extended Support applies to retail purchases, and entitles home users to security fixes until January 14, 2020 (Win 7) and January 10, 2023 (Win 8).

  17. Re:get over it by wierd_w · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "She obviously wanted it! If she didnt, why was she showing leg under that slutty red and black dress, and wearing whore makup at night like that!"

    Because that's what the "You did agree! You had had suggested updates turned on!" really amounts to.

  18. Re:get over it by WheezyJoe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    disclaimer: i don't exactly have a dog in the fight, i'm a mac/unix guy.

    If you wake up one morning and find YOUR Mac has been upgraded from "El Capitan" to "Death Valley", and some of YOUR apps have completely changed appearance, other apps don't work right anymore, still others (like your favorite media app) are just plain gone and can't be recovered, and YOU have a whole new flat ugly touch-based color scheme on some but not all of your applications, YOUR menu bar has been replaced with a ribbon, some older hardware doesn't have drivers anymore, and a bunch of ads are now rolling through YOUR dock, and the EULA now says Apple reserves the right to send info about YOU back to headquarters whenever it feels like it, my guess is you won't just smile and be happy because Apple's business model is not "insane".

    it is insanity in this day and age to have to support multiple substantially different versions of an operating system for general population. its unjustifiably expensive and unsustainable.

    You got it backward. Since when does the market (i.e., consumers... us) have to bear the burden for Microsoft's "insanity"? Let's see how YOU feel about the "insanity" when it's YOUR computer that's changed overnight into a platform for promoting tablets and phones that nobody wants to buy. If YOUR dad calls YOU in the middle of the night because he can no longer figure out how to view pictures of his grandkids, are YOU gonna tell him to be silent and act like a man and accept his duty to make sacrifices wherever necessary to support our Dear Corporate Overlords? "Gee, I know it's hard, dad, but think about (Microsoft CEO) Nadella... you and mom are doing it for the good of Microsoft and Nadella."

    "Gosh, son, you're right. I guess I don't need those old picture anyhow. Hail Nadella."

    --
    Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
  19. Re:Simple Permanent Fix by willy_me · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Parallels is a pain in the ass. Every time Mac OS updates you have to update to a new version of Parallels. And those updates cost (typically). I believe they have sorted out most of their driver problems now, but it used to be that installing Parallels would cause nothing but problems for me.

    Bring in VirtualBox. I also do embedded development (Linux host) and VirtualBox saves me when I need a Windows app. The GPU drivers suck but this is typically not a big deal when doing embedded development. Overall, I actually prefer it. If it cost the same as Parallels I would still use VirtualBox.

  20. Re:For those of us in the "Family IT support" role by WheezyJoe · · Score: 4, Funny

    Septuagenarian Grandmother: "Friends have been suggesting I get an iPad".
    "nerd" offspring: "Go right ahead. But I don't use any Apple products so don't come crying to me for support."

    Father: "Grandma's dead."
    "nerd" offspring: "Did she leave me anything?"
    Father: "Her old will left you quite a bit, but she changed it soon after she got her iPad."
    "nerd" offspring: "So, what did she leave me?"
    Father: "Her iPad. and a note that says 'learn some fucking Apple products, you snotty little shit.'"

    --
    Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
  21. Re:Escape? by Stuarticus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Change your Serial to a known bad one so you fail validation, you don't get upgrade prompts but you do get security updates. It also changes your desktop to a classy black background. Yes, pirates are actually getting better service than paying users...

    --
    If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.