As Windows 10 19H1 Update Approaches, Microsoft Says Version 1809 is Now Ready For 'Broad Deployment' (onmsft.com)
We're now very close to the next semi-annual update for Windows 10, but Microsoft has just announced today that the version 1809 released last Fall is now the recommended version for all users. From a report: This is a new milestone in the troubled history of this major release, as Microsoft had to pause its public rollout after discovering a serious file deletion bug in October. "Based on the data and the feedback we've received from consumers, OEMs, ISVs, partners, and commercial customers, Windows 10, version 1809 has transitioned to broad deployment," wrote John Wilcox, Windows as a service evangelist on the Windows IT Pro blog today. We're now a little more than four months removed from Microsoft's re-released Windows 10 version 1803, and Microsoft previously admitted that it would be more cautious during the public rollout. According to AdDuplex's latest survey on more than 100,000 Windows 10 PCS, only 26.4% of them were running the version 1809 in March.
I recently tried to upgrade an older HP Probook 4520s that originally came with Windows 7. Windows 10 worked just fine on it when I install directly from a DVD with build 1803 on it. But the upgrade to 1809 consistently crashed it, so it would begin booting normally but hit a black screen and total system freeze before you ever got to a login prompt. I tried all the tricks, like installing the 1809 upgrade from a bootable USB stick with that Win 10 build already on it. No go.
I wound up having to tell it to postpone the 1809 upgrade for 365 days (the longest time period Windows 10 lets you specify), so the computer could keep working.
I guess it'll be great if the next build addresses the issue and lets me just skip over 1809. But I'm not sure how much they care about specific, older laptops like this one - when HP themselves dropped support for it after Windows 8?
Isolate your Windows 10 system behind a firewall, and only use SOCKS proxying via your web browser or other apps to connect. Without a network gateway windows, even windows 10 can't connect out onto the network. If it gets to the point where it starts stealing your proxy credentials to exfiltrate data, don't configure proxy settings on it, keep it isolated and use a secondary computer for network access.
It's not ideal, but this is the easiest way without a firewall that can block microsoft software from connecting out.