Disable Windows 10 Automatic Upgrade

[JohnMcEwen]

Recently received an unsolicited notification on my desktop from Microsoft that I would be being upgraded from my trusty Windows 7 to 10 in a few days.
No way I wanted this to happen and found this program to stop it:

GRC | Never10 - Gibson Research Corporation
https://www.grc.com/never10.htm
Apr 18, 2016 - Never10 - Disable Windows 10 Automatic Upgrade.

[Ericmopar]

I caught a lot of hell for reporting this a few days ago. I'm glad someone else came forward.

Here's a link to the other thread.
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=16423

[JerryC]

You too will be assimilated to Windows 10. Resistance, is futile.

320x240.jpg

Why do you resist us? We only seek to improve the quality of life for other cultures.

[NStrains]

I haven't had any issues with windows 10 on my laptop as of yet. I do have some other issues, but none that are because of the Windows 10 OS.

[BillS]

Many people have been very satisfied with Windows 10, however it doesn't seem ethical to have Microsoft try to "cram it" to you the way they have been trying to do. Eventually, all of us will have to "move on", and upgrade, but as long as Windows 7 is supported by Microsoft, and doesn't give me problems, I'm not going to "fix what ain't broke". Personally, I think that it's a royal PITA to constantly get the message from Microsoft to have me upgrade. If anyone else wants to upgrade, and it is a better deal and works better for them, great.

Ironically, one of the other computers, in my home, was getting the same message. Just for jollies, I let the automatic upgrade do its thing, but after several failed attempts, there was an issue in the download??? Oh well!

[PapaXpress]

Bah-hum-bug

I am tired of all this hypocrisy.

Google Chorme, Chrome OS, Firefox, Android Nexus, all update automatically. We hear applause all around. Even Redhat, Ubuntu and Apple have clear end of life policies and most users jump at the chance to upgrade even if it's from one LTS release to another. These products are more secure, can use the latest features the web, or API offer and it just keeps getting better.

Android OEM and Microsoft get flack. Android because the OEMs have no reason to spend time to test upgrades, and Microsoft because they built something that actually lasts (yes XP lasted too long).

I am speaking from experience here. When I was a developer for Roxio the main road block I had which prevented me from giving my customers a better product was XP. We had a small but stable customer base who refused to move from that antiquated OS. This prevented me from using more secure APIs and new features which would have made the Roxio line of products more efficient and desirable to use. I know that Roxio was not the only company which had this problem.

While I do not approve of their data collection policies, I do applaud Microsoft for taking the rolling upgrade approach and join the 21st century, I hope they stick with it. It will clean up the fragmentation out there, and thereby allow application and driver developers make more secure and stable products at an accelerated rate (ie no more back port testing).

[buzz456]

Papa don't hold back. Tell us what you really think.

[Ericmopar]

Bah-hum-bug

I am tired of all this hypocrisy.

Google Chorme, Chrome OS, Firefox, Android Nexus, all update automatically. We hear applause all around. Even Redhat, Ubuntu and Apple have clear end of life policies and most users jump at the chance to upgrade even if it's from one LTS release to another. These products are more secure, can use the latest features the web, or API offer and it just keeps getting better.

Android OEM and Microsoft get flack. Android because the OEMs have no reason to spend time to test upgrades, and Microsoft because they built something that actually lasts (yes XP lasted too long).

I am speaking from experience here. When I was a developer for Roxio the main road block I had which prevented me from giving my customers a better product was XP. We had a small but stable customer base who refused to move from that antiquated OS. This prevented me from using more secure APIs and new features which would have made the Roxio line of products more efficient and desirable to use. I know that Roxio was not the only company which had this problem.

While I do not approve of their data collection policies, I do applaud Microsoft for taking the rolling upgrade approach and join the 21st century, I hope they stick with it. It will clean up the fragmentation out there, and thereby allow application and driver developers make more secure and stable products at an accelerated rate (ie no more back port testing).

All fine and dandy, but what is rarely mentioned in the case of Win 10 is the forced driver updates that bone your system eventually. I'd upgrade if I had control over my drivers...
Many of the complaints are coming from gamers, engineering types and laptop owners. All have systems that require specific drivers for optimum running.
I need an older version of Intel RST drivers for instance, otherwise my Samsung SSDs drop down to literally half their speed potential. I also need a particular version of the USB 3.0 drivers not the generic ones from Intel, otherwise my external drive's read and write speeds slow to a crawl.
My system works smoother with generic chipset inf from Intel however, rather than the ones that came with my Mobo.

I'm one of the ones that would get a fistful of problems if I let Microsoft constantly mess with my drivers.

I've been reading a lot of comments online about this, and many people like the look and feel, and gave Win 10 and honest chance, but then some idiotic driver update keeps fouling up their system, so they rolled back to 7. Like one guy was saying "I don't have time for all this, reinstalling and rolling back drivers and work too!"

Some people have had their laptops so boned, they had to get a new laptop or HDD. I suspect at least some of that is crooked repair shops though...

I have an Android phone and yeah, they always seem to foul up something with their constant updates. My most current issue is the tendency for my scroll down menu to keep popping/bouncing back up when I'm trying to enable WiFi or something else like brightness adjustment. It didn't do that before the last update.

[JerryC]

I'm a gamer, and i've had no issues with hardware or drivers being "boned" by Windows 10. I embrace updates, all of them, good or bad. Of course though, my system is a custom job that you can't get in the Best Buy or Gateway store. And my thinking is that if Windows 10 is screwing with your hardware / drivers, it's time to upgrade to hardware / software that does work. There is precedence for this as well. Even our beloved TSX version of our favorite video game pretty much required a system overhaul in order to get it to run smoothly.

[Ericmopar]

I'm a gamer, and i've had no issues with hardware or drivers being "boned" by Windows 10. I embrace updates, all of them, good or bad. Of course though, my system is a custom job that you can't get in the Best Buy or Gateway store. And my thinking is that if Windows 10 is screwing with your hardware / drivers, it's time to upgrade to hardware / software that does work. There is precedence for this as well. Even our beloved TSX version of our favorite video game pretty much required a system overhaul in order to get it to run smoothly.

Not everyone will have problems right away.
Windows 10 updates to the latest drivers on a regular basis apparently, so what works today may not work tomorrow. That's the problem most are having. Apparently things were going good for them, until Microsoft decides to update some driver, then your printer or some other thing doesn't work anymore.
I know some drivers updates don't work correctly, but with Windows 7 you can reinstall one that will work.
When the day comes that a driver breaks something with Windows 10, you can roll it back, but then 10 will put it right back on again... There lies the crux of the problem.

As far as spyware in 10, I'm one who knew it was there all along anyways. In fact disabling the customer improvement program in Windows 7 has always been a lie. If you actually look in the task scheduler you can see all the processes are still running and being scheduled for next time. Sometimes when I've looked it was run right when I started my PC.
A person has always had to go into the Task Scheduler and disable each process and service related to their tracking you.

BTW Papa, what you said about LInux isn't entirely true. I had a problem with a particular Nvidia update in Ubuntu months ago, but was able to reinstall the older version and then take the Nvidia stuff off the list of things automatically updated until they worked the bugs out.

I always accept security updates.

[peterhayes]

Eric
You can stop driver updates in windows 10. If you are using the pro version then using gpedit.msc

from the Start Menu, search for 'gpedit' and run the Group Policy Editor. Expand Computer Configuration in the left-hand pane, and navigate to Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update. Double-click Configure Automatic Updates in the list, select the Enabled radio button, and in the left-hand box select 2 - Notify for download and notify for install. Now click OK, and you'll be notified whenever there are updates - unfortunately, they'll be a daily irritation if you're using Windows Defender.

without gpedit.msc:

The Group Policy Editor isn't available on Windows 10 Home, but we'd recommend you at least open Windows Update, click Advanced options and select Notify to schedule restart from the Choose how updates are installed list. While you're here, all Windows 10 users might want to click Choose how updates are delivered, and ensure that Updates from more than one place is either off, or set to PCs on my local network.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/operating-system ... fix-them-3
plus this guide also shows you how to do it: http://www.cnet.com/au/how-to/stop-wind ... g-your-pc/

There is no conspiracy theory in windows 10 You can easily set your privacy settings such that MS gets no info from your computer. http://www.itpro.co.uk/operating-system ... fix-them-3

Apparently there are around 200 million users of Windows 10 at present and growing and if the majority were having the problems that you allude to then MS would be deluged with complaints and their website totally choked. Most users myself included are happy with Win 10 - it works well is very stable, easy to repair and great for TS 2016. I can't wait for ver 10.1 as that includes more optimisations to the OS. The OS is NOT perfect by a long way, but is good enough to upgrade to, it really is a progression over earlier versions of Windows which from windows itself have been progressively better in handling both the hardware and the software.
Regards
pH ex Luddite


PeterH

[trev123]

No problems with Windows 10 here either, been running it since day 1. Never had issues with auto update of drivers. I'm one of the 10 million happy users.

[PapaXpress]

I have had not one unwanted driver update and I was an early adopter. Perhaps that is because I am using Pro (and Insider Preview to boot!).

Just want to +1 what Peter is saying.

[trev123]

I have the Home Edition.

[peterhayes]

Plus we need to put MS OS privacy into perspective.
There are now at least 2/300,000,000+ million users of Windows 10 (plus 2 to 3 times that using Windows 7/8/Vista/XP, etc) now imagine the computer spec needed to actually collect and process any "privacy data" that might be collected, and then work out the odds of someone at Richmond (or anywhere) actually choosing your privacy data just to look at it or even find it in the first place. I guess that you could be unlucky!!
As I say settings in Win 10 now allow you to not send any privacy data to MS.
Regards
pH