Windows 10 upgrade prompt gets more insidious
 

Yep... they've restored to downright tricking people into upgrading.

My laptop turned into a brick a couple months ago due to a forced upgrade attempt. Bricked.

Clicking the red X to close the upgrade prompt window now accept the upgrade.



Windows 10's Upgrading Tricks Have Gotten More Insidious

Go here:
https://www.grc.com/never10.htm
Download the small program. Run it. Never see Windows 10 again.

The fix for the windows 10 crap was found months ago, but it was a series of somewhat sensitive registry changes, etc. This small program does everything for you quickly and painlessly. It even determines if Microsoft has already loaded windows 10 on your machine, and helps you remove it.

I know, this looks like spam or worse, but if you search the web a bit you should find that Steve Gibson and Gibson Research is on the up and up.

You can still stop it at the scheduled time, but how are they allowed to get away with this. EU bans embedding IE in the OS, but how about forcing a customer to completely upgrade their system that can potentially brick it, or render other software unusable. Unethical!

I agree with Bob. I was happy with my little ole Windows 7. But every time I'd use my machine, I'd get these notices to upgrade to Win 10. I finally felt bullied enough that I just went ahead & upgraded it, and I don't like it. My next computer will be built by Apple.

This "Click on the Red X" trick is my final straw with MS......I took a laptop I rarely use and loaded Win 10 early on.....I hate it and won't use it at all.

I now have Linux on one laptop and learning it......

I keep Win 7 on my desktop and main laptop....As suggested above, I got rid of the Win 10 popups a few months ago.

I also refuse to download Win 7 Updates any more...I'm afraid they will slow down Win 7 and make me want to upgrade...

AND, why would I want to pay a monthly fee for MS Office when I already own it a copy......

Brings up a question for those who HAVE upgraded to 10...

Does it overwrite everything that's on your existing system (such as Office and other programs)? I ask because I have no clue where my hard copy of my Office is, and I certainly don't want to have to repurchase...

My HD crashed and I had W10 installed because...well they wouldn't install anything else that I could use. I had to BUY Excel and Word AND the license has to be renewed periodically. No more buy it and own it forever. :mad:

This happened to me too! Refused it & it bricked! Even ctrl+alt+delete wouldn't work.

I finally relented on startup & tried the install...biggest mistake ever. Lost internet connectivity & many apps stopped working. Diagnostics said "sockets" were missing...in the registry I think. I was livid because I had no wayu to fix this anchor now. Poked around and found the unistall (which you only can do for 10-30 days, if memory serves correct). Did that and all is well! I don't even get the pop-up prompts anymore...and it's been a week.

When you uninstall, it asks for reasons why...I let loose with a stream of vitriol & calls for the death of all those involved. Shame nobody would ever see it...because of windows 10 destroying access to the internet!

BTW, from what I saw, Windows 10 sucks. Hate the layout, displays, etc. Very annoying and I only played with it while trying to un-F my computer. Real loser there. I'm sure it'll be inevitable eventually but I'll hang on to the last!

As a former 7 user I have to say that 10 isn't all that bad. There are quirks that I don't like (some things that were one click now require two) and needing to repurchase Office stuff sux but it's not that bad. Then again I don't know squat about OSs.

I just ran the GRC program. Thanks.

My experience: Win 10 wouldn't let me load any programs I normally use. Not my copy of Office 2003 Professional, CCleaner, Infranview for photo's, Open office, etc. (As it was a computer I didn't use much, it may have had an expired license to do some of this, I never got that far)

When last used, I was on vacation and had to open some Attachments, make changes and resend. Couldn't do it.....Win 10 no longer has "Notepad" or even "Paint".......Sux

Windows 10 has notepad, I use it everyday. And for paint, download PAINT.NET Much better program.

Still wondering what the issue people have with Windows 10. My biggest complaint is getting to the real control panel. But you can type "control panel" in the search box and it pops right up.

BTW that was rescinded ... that said, still sneaky bad. Much like malware. Which Windows 10 is (unwanted adverts, etc).

Unless you are tied to Windows for some application, just switch to Linux Mint. Runs on your current hardware, works out of the box, none of that kind of nastiness. If you are already using Firefox, Chrome, Thunderbird, VLC then all of those apps will still work, and it is possible to migrate the data over (simply copy appropriate profile directories)

If you have deep enough pockets, just go buy a Mac. Although they have their issues as well.

Depends on how old your copy of office is - of course, MS would prefer that it doesn't work and convince you to use an Office 365 account... which as a Linux user running it in Chrome isn't so bad, aside from the usual badness of it being microsoft and outlook being not such a great email client attached to not such a great email server.

Awesome, thanks! I've used a few things from GRC before, but haven't been there in forever. I don't plan on upgrading. I'm happy with 7 and don't want to deal with the hassle.

There's also Ultimate Outsider - Software Downloads or GWX Control Panel - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com
Used it now for months and no issues so far.

For a while I did have a .COM Surrogate process running in the background. I'd have to kill the process every half hour or more after it kept popping up. But that was probably unrelated to this program and MSSecurityEssentials didn't identify it as a virus.

GWX Control Panel - from what I have reviewed and experienced - is top notch. Installed it several months ago on both Win7 machines here at the house and works wonders!

+1.

Haven't seen a single prompt for W10 since installing GWX.

If Microsoft doesn't change the direction they've been heading, this will be my last computer with their operating system.

My intent is NOT to change the subject of the OP but what happens ( if anything ) if you continue to refuse the update ? So far I just have been putting it off. Will we possibly reach a time when Windows 7 just stops working ? To force most to update ? I'm perfectly happy with 7 but if I would be forced to change in the future I might consider changing now.
I know a Google Chromebook is not technically a computer the same as a laptop or desktop but the operating system on those is similar to a smart phone correct ? I have to think Google sees an opportunity to grab some market share from Microsoft users not happy with Windows 10 . I'm just trying to get smarter on what I will do in the future. I don't run business applications so mostly internet searching, email, streaming is about it.

I'm okay with it. I keep it around (running under Parallels on my Mac) to run Revit and a couple of other "only-available-on-Windows" apps that I need. I suspect in a year or two all that stuff will have Mac versions or I'll be able to work around it using comparable Mac-based programs (I'm transitioning over to Vectorworks now and using that in lieu of Revit even though it's not the industry standard - I can still use it for most things I think... So far so good.)

I'll probably keep a PC around "just in case" for a few years but I'm 90% over onto Mac OS now and I doubt I'll be going back to a Windows-based platform for my primary tasks. The Macs are just so much better, especially for what I'm doing. I just hope Apple doesn't turn into Microsoft (a few moves lately make me fear they might be doing this, but they're still the best game in town by a longshot...)

Disclaimer - I just bought a 27" 5k retina iMac as my primary workstation - it's amazing so I know I'm sort of gushing about it, but that picture - wow!

I've been wanting a 27" iMac for a couple of years, and even the missus is onboard. Then when the 5k came out, I wanted it even more. Unfortunately, my current workstation is running too well for me to justify the expense.

It's not outside of the realm of possibilities, but I think that's pretty unlikely. More likely are tactics like "upgrade now for free, because next month we are going to charge you" (they've already been saying "free is a limited time offer" for a while). Another certainty is that eventually they'll stop supporting Win 7, so no more patches, fixes, etc.... They do that from time to time anyway, and I wouldn't expect that to be too soon, because there are too many corporate entities that I don't think they want to piss off by doing that.

I would suspect those are the 2 most drastic and likely scenarios.

I upgraded my system at home to Win 10 and no problems except for all the insane bloat-ware Microsoft installs. Win 10 was designed for some Millennial with a laptop and a mobile phone that plays a lot of games is all I can guess. After killing off the Xbox, and Skype and the other near endless list of stupid "apps" the system works fine.

We upgraded one system here at work that was a new computer and we were starting from scratch on a system I built. Again after removing the useless crap, it has been great.

We have three computers that run Win 7 pro. They have software that flat will not work under other operating systems. Heck we have several computers still running Win XP pro for the same reason. We have two computers running Win 2000. Guess why, they are not used a lot, they have old legacy programs we don't want to go back to, BUT several times per year we pull up an old project extract some data from data formats that are not supported by modern software and convert that part of a project to an interchange format and bring that one valuable part of the data into the 21st century. It is time consuming and we charge the client for that and make money off of it without having to re-invent the wheel.

Uninstalling some of the programs that are not simple to uninstall

How to Uninstall Windows 10’s Built-in Apps (and How to Reinstall Them)

Skype is not a stupid app.

Has all but replaced my multi line phone system.

I do easily 80% of my client calls, conferencing, and quick interaction via Skype.

However since being bought by MSFT it is sadly turning into a turd.

The concept is still valid, it's MSFT's "enhancements" that are the issue.

"It's easier to beg forgiveness than obtain permission". Words to live by. ;)

Just go get it - you'll be happy. Even if sleeping on the couch.

It is a fine program for people that have a laptop with a built in camera and microphone and speakers and a NEED to communicate with others remotely.

It is a 100% waste of electrons on a dedicated workstation with no camera, no microphone and a speaker that only indicates error beep tones. We try hard to not put programs that are not NEEDED to make the maps. It is a workstation with a dual 12 core CPUs, 128 gig of RAM and dual striped SSD drives and two very expensive video cards all designed to churn through a lot of data. There will never be a camera, games, or a need for an address book of contacts or social media of any sort.

I can get Office 365 for free, just would rather not have to deal with re-licensing every year; hate the concept as a matter of principle. My employer is switching to Win10 in the very near future, so I've been debating whether or not to upgrade my laptop so I can start playing with it before I have to work with it...My wife's computer has 10, and it doesn't seem all that bad. Win 8 was an absolute POS, on the other hand.

Agreed, but just because it'll never be used for a specific hardware application just makes it unnecessary, not stupid.

Extended support ends in Jan 2020, which means no more updates of any kind. Much like with XP. That means no more security updates, no more support for new hardware, etc. Expect more and more security flaws to be found and not fixed.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?alpha=windows%207

2020 is when they would like to stop supporting it. But if they still have a ton of users using it, support will likely be extended.

But your right, ultimately, support will end some day. Maybe Linux will be more user friendly by then.

You can remove it and most of the other unused programs

Yea, we removed the bloatware. I just wish there were some setup options or a smarter installation routine. It has to look at the hardware resources. With no camera or microphone and the computer that only Andre the Giant would call a laptop why put Skype or X-Box or games on it in the first place?

Oh well the day Microsoft really cares about the end user is the day the world has ended.

Why, because of what we've practiced and preached for years, you can't make a living off the hardcore user.

Software and especially operating systems are built for the masses.

While I agree with you on the benefit to people like us that a smarter installation routine might bring the reality is we don't represent a large enough user base to expend the effort on functionality that could result in more problems than it solves.

There is no financial upside, plain and simple.

Obviously the lack of a smarter installation routine has not motivated you to seek out an alternate OS right.

And FWIW, 90% of my Skype use is through the instant messaging portion, typing on a keyboard, and quick file transfers.

The camera and mic only extend Skypes functionality, they are not required for the app to provide it's primary function which is to facilitate communication and productivity.

My main workstation runs skype 24/7, no mic or camera on that box.

It would probably think that is a gaming computer and you would end up with even more crap on it for the X-Box streaming and such.

I have often wondered how a game would play on that beast. I suspect if we put a good set of speakers on it and some sort of game controller it would be a killer game computer. We will never find out. I have not played a computer game since I moved from a Commodore 64 to my first DOS system back in the early 1980s. We had some relatives visit at home recently and they brought their two boys who were bored. They asked me where my game station was and they were astonished we did not have one at all.

Meh, I haven't had a console since I left home. I have had and played a few PC games over the years, but none in probably the past 10 years at least, maybe more.

Probably the only thing that I would like to play, but don't want to deal with the hassle of the wheel and pedals would be NFS - Porsche Unleashed and GPL. I would play them so rarely though, it doesn't make sense to bother. I could probably muddle by on NFS - PU with a keyboard.

the stats sound like it would make quite a gaming computer and the camera and microphone could be USB and not plugged in. Can you imagine if they didn't install it, how much the other 95% of the population would complain that it wasn't automatically installed?

There should be an advanced option where you can go in and individually choose all of your options like there were in Windows installs in the past. Maybe there is with this new one, I don't know because I haven't ever installed it.