Windows 10 forced upgrade

Given they are both laptops I'd be tempted to alter the power saving / power down settings, cable it to the net and let it download and install 'everything' it wishes (with the Win 10 exclusions checked in GWX)

I mention this on the basis of similar problems I've had with IBM/Lenovo laptops and Samsung Netbooks in the past when a big backlog has occurred after a few weeks offline or with updates disabled.

Unless you are totally offline then disabling all windows updates 'forever' is the guaranteed route to big problems in the future. The security patches are there for a very good reason.

I know from experience many years ago with a security hole on Windows 2000, the time it took to download a service pack of about 80-100MB over a 64kbps link, was actually less than the time for the machine to be infected by a random attack. That was with a brand new windows 2000 installation, from a sealed CD with no subsequent user activity whatsoever, just an internet connection downloading the service pack from Microsofts own FTP site.

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Thanks for that, Martin

I sat for several hours yesterday, with the laptop on my knee and the Cat5 cable plugged-in ... watching what was [not] happening.

Given the timing of your mesage, it may be that you haven't seen the P.S. on my reply to Vic.

As if by magic, suddenly it all worked as it should ... I can only assume that he Micro$oft server suddenly decided it was my turn !!

MichaelG.

As MS are apparently using p2p they were probably waiting for your next door neighbor to turn on his PC!

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... Might be some truth in that

PC_1 completed its updates, so [fired with new-found enthusiasm] I tried PC_2, which has just sat there all evening, and downloaded zilch.

MichaelG.

.....it seems that the mere act of asking the question on this forum has improved things .... which is rather Spooky

Spooky action at a distance. It seems you've become entangled with Microsoft. Scary!

Edited By Bandersnatch on 18/05/2016 22:26:22

I can't remember the complete details (it's the second thing to go) but it seems to me when I wandered off the straight and narrow a while back and fooled around with the Win-10 free upgrade, one of the options was to download the files for a completely fresh install. This I did because I wanted to try it out by installing it on a completely separate machine rather than risking my (reasonably satisfactory) Win-8.1 installation.

[ I did that but canned it when I realised that I'd have to go through months of figuring out where they put things this time and tweaking Microsoft's prohibitively "cautious" security settings to get back to some semblance control of my machine. That news of Microsoft's default privacy excesses was leaking out at the time didn't help either. ]

Because of this, I believe I have (somewhere) the fresh install files saved which presumably means I don't have to pay at a later date if I have a change of heart. Perhaps someone else remembers the details of this better than I. It may also be that the full install files were only available to Windows-8 users (but I don't know).

Then again, my memory really is atrocious these days so I could have imagined the whole thing or be remembering the Windows-8 upgrade.

Unless you are totally offline then disabling all windows updates 'forever' is the guaranteed route to big problems in the future.

Well it must be a long way in the future

I stopped everything upgrading from 2005

XP pro rules!

Anyone wanting to make absolutely sure MS does not force W10 on you, get:

Never10 from GRC.com

Geoff - My days of MS grief ended in 2007/8, hip hip ^*% hooray!

Hi Steve,

Have a look in W10 Settings - Network & internet - WiFi - Advanced Options. There is an option for Metered Connection that may help your father.

Nick.

Edited By Nick Hughes on 22/05/2016 11:48:19

Wish I'd seen this two days ago. I am one of the latest victims.

Last time I did it voluntarily and had to go back because I have some expensive video software which was iffy on 10. Unfortunately last time I reverted back and landed in the blue screen of death and a bill for £60 and a fortnight to fix.
Looking for a suitable juncture to dump microsoft altogether like OuBallie.

Edited By Anthony Kendall on 22/05/2016 12:27:11

Notwithstanding some of my earlier comments in this thread, it occurred to me that I have an HP laptop, which I bought for extended trips but which is rarely used these days. It has Win-7 installed which I didn't like much - probably because I never spent the time to chase down and change all the MS dumbed-down, self-serving and over-cautious default settings. I thought I could do worse than experiment with W-10 on this machine. So...

1. Arguably the simplest way to get around the "will it screw up my computer?"; "can I undo the upgrade?"; "how long do I have to do that?" type questions is to back up the Win-7 system first. I elected to back up the whole HD. First I tried doing (selected) outstanding Windows Updates on the W-7 setup but found, as others have, that I couldn't actually make contact with the MS server. So I decided it didn't really matter and went ahead with the backup anyway.
(As an aside, it seems the MS servers are getting pretty busy these days. This might explain MS's policy of forcing automatic updates on users, since by that means it can control the timing of traffic to its servers. Just a thought).

2. By going to **LINK** I found the confirmation of my earlier head-scratching post - that you can actually download an upgrade image file to write to DVD or USB-Drive (whether downloading and saving it would protect you when the free upgrade offer expires in June - or whenever - remains to be seen .... the image might expire at the same time). I downloaded the DVD image and cut a disk.

3. It's not actually very clear whether the install disk thus created is supposed to be used as a boot disk or whether the setup is to be invoked from within Windows. I tried booting with it and it asked me a bunch of setup questions then told me that it couldn't proceed until I started Windows and ran setup from there (!). So I did that and it re-ran the install but, significantly, didn't repeat the questions that it asked before. So it seems at least that smart.

4. Somewhere along the line (on the website I think) you are admonished to be sure to remove the DVD from the drive before the first reboot. Otherwise the setup will start over I didn't see any warning of the reboot and more or less guessed when would be a good time. Considering that some of the process is very lengthy, there is no pause button - and some of us need the bathroom! MS could do better here I think. This probably wouldn't be a problem if you used the alternative USB drive install (unless, presumably, your machine is set to boot from USB).

5. I made sure not to accept any defaults throughout the setup but went the "customised" route. In almost all cases that resulted in rejecting the MS defaults.

Other than that, the upgrade seemed to go fairly well. I haven't actually used it significantly since. I did install Classic Shell (wouldn't want to run any post-XP version of Windows without that). I dug around the internet and have a list of the recommended settings to change from MS defaults - mostly concerned with privacy. Most of these I'd already covered by not accepting the defaults. Now I just face the uphill battle with MS's over-the top security that prevents me from accessing a whole bunch of MY OWN HD. That could take many weeks if the Win-8 experience is anything to go by (I won't be updating that machine any time soon).

Like Martin I had the uninvited upgrade to W10 which I have been resisting but have found W10 works faster and no issues except there are no games on W10 now, you have to pay for them. I am not an avid game player but would often mindlessly play solitaire whilst solving a problem.

Clive

Please see and listen to the BBC radio five live night time tech prog which I have linked to in my new topic....

The missus computer tried to upgrade... again (Win7 64bit) and I got out of it by rolling back to a restore point from a few days previously, but it was a bit of a struggle. She's now not allowed to use internet explorer and I've installed Firefox 27.01 for her browsing purposes. Internet Explorer seems to be an integral part of this virus style of upgrade being used by MS.

My windows 10, loaded on last week has some games, X Box, Microsoft Solitare Collection, Minecraft. Had 10 installed after my 7 got hit by a bug. Ian S C

I have been considering updating my laptop but the thought of Windoz 10 and some of the comments here about it have me a bit worried. I'm quite happy with Windoz 7 but the old laptop is getting well worn.

One way I have found to get round the automatic installation of W10 on new machines is to go for one that has W10 Pro as the operating system. In there it has the ability to 'downgrade' to W7.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

True, but if you have the Pro version it's probably not worth reverting to 7 unless you have software that won't run on Windows 10.

The reason is that the Pro version is for Business and Government use. These purchasers are not naive and they won't knowingly use software that leaks information. Windows 10 Pro is for the security savvy market, and, so far as I know, it does not have any of the privacy issues bundled with the consumer versions,

Five choices:

1. Pay for Windows 10 Pro
2. Use the free version but take the time and trouble to research and disable undesirable features every time Windows 10 upgrades
3. Take the risk of using the unmodified free version.
4. Switch to something else, like Apple or Linux. Bear in mind that these aren't Microsoft clones, may not do everything you need, and may have other "features" that you don't care for.
5. Choose to block upgrades. This approach is a security risk and, by being out-of-date, might also prevent you loading a much needed application upgrade. The inevitable failure of ageing hardware may give you severe culture shock if after several years, the replacement turns out to have been developed well outside your comfort zone.

What do I do? I own several computers and my solution is a combination of Options 2, 4 and 5.

Nearly all of my computing needs are met by Ubuntu.

The main reasons I use Windows 10 are: certain applications aren't available for Linux (and won't run on wine, the Windows Emulator); or I need to guarantee file compatibility with another Windows user; or new hardware only comes with drivers for Windows 10. I have an old machine dedicated to a single purpose that hasn't been upgraded for nearly 5 years. I never connect it to anything else and there will be serious bother when it breaks.

Cheers,

Dave

Microsoft is now tricking users into installing W10.

Have a look at this and be shocked that a company like MS would stoop this low.

I was dual booting OSX with Vista, but every time I tried to update Vista it was nothing but pain, so i formatted that drive, and now MS IS history as far as I'm concerned.

Geoff - Good progress on the Austin

Upgraded on purpose from win7 a couple of days ago but found win10 to be buggy and actually would not let my pc shut down would not share the printer with the other pcs in the house and would not run some software I need for my work thank god the reverse back to win7 option worked I have now installed never10

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I find it rather difficult to be shocked by the lowness of Microsoft's stooping

Remember; this is the company that killed both Netscape and Lotus.

MichaelG.

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Edit: ... Oops ... Forgot to mention OS/2

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 03/06/2016 13:09:18