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teknomedic
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- Nov 18, 2007
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nukemaster
Titan
- Nov 23, 2004
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I have my system set to get security updates only. No recommended or optional. I have NEVER even seen the get Windows 10 program(I had to go out and download 10 as my own choice on my one system running it). This is the way it should be. I do not like all the push one bit.
Also Microsoft only saves things you do with Microsoft services. It is not like they are watching your Chrome or FF searches(While I am sure you can import those things if you want into edge). You can turn most of it off. Some of the telemetry is stuck on however.
On the one hand I am sure they can make a better OS if they actually know a problem is happening(program crashes and whatnot). Part of this telemetry is for exactly that.
Also Microsoft only saves things you do with Microsoft services. It is not like they are watching your Chrome or FF searches(While I am sure you can import those things if you want into edge). You can turn most of it off. Some of the telemetry is stuck on however.
On the one hand I am sure they can make a better OS if they actually know a problem is happening(program crashes and whatnot). Part of this telemetry is for exactly that.
I like Windows 10 and now have it on everything except one older laptop that doesn't see much use these days. That said, the way Microsoft has pushed Windows 10 on those who didn't specifically ask for it is just plain wrong and a huge PR disaster.
Who can trust a product that is promoted by such means? How many times, for example, does a consumer need to get burned by come-ons that let you have the product for a lengthy period for free but require action on the consumer's part to refused the ongoing subscription and billing if they decide they don't want it? Consumers soon learn that an honorable company with a good product would instead take the opposite approach, telling the consumer that the free period is ending and they need to pay for the service to continue. (No, I don't expect Microsoft to turn Windows retroactively into a subscription service. That was just an example of bad selling practice.)
I'm not going to be surprised if Microsoft turns around and announces the free upgrade was so popular they're extending the offer another year. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain. But that also means they'll anger yet more people if they don't drop these practices.
Who can trust a product that is promoted by such means? How many times, for example, does a consumer need to get burned by come-ons that let you have the product for a lengthy period for free but require action on the consumer's part to refused the ongoing subscription and billing if they decide they don't want it? Consumers soon learn that an honorable company with a good product would instead take the opposite approach, telling the consumer that the free period is ending and they need to pay for the service to continue. (No, I don't expect Microsoft to turn Windows retroactively into a subscription service. That was just an example of bad selling practice.)
I'm not going to be surprised if Microsoft turns around and announces the free upgrade was so popular they're extending the offer another year. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain. But that also means they'll anger yet more people if they don't drop these practices.
- Oct 7, 2009
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This is bad news indeed! Bad job with Microsoft, people moving over to their competitors would be the obvious course of action for folks who have moved to Windows 10 and got thoroughly annoyed by the crap support with Realtek and pretty much a lot of functioning hardware rendered useless after the migration.
John Wittenberg
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- Mar 9, 2014
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1. The only thing about Windows 10 that is better than W7 is that it is not W8. It frequently does not recognize my internet connection, and except rarely, I have to restart my laptop to get it to see the connection is good. My phone and my W7 desktop do not have this problem.
2. Microsoft installed Office 365 without notifying me (it was just there one day), and I have lost all my Office 2013. I want it back. My menus still say 2013, but the apps say 365. For nearly a month, PowerPoint completely disappeared.
If my desktop weren't so ancient and slow, I would use it for the internet, but I'm pretty much stuck with a snail's pace on my desktop or rebooting on my laptop. And guess what. It did it three times while I was trying to post this comment.
2. Microsoft installed Office 365 without notifying me (it was just there one day), and I have lost all my Office 2013. I want it back. My menus still say 2013, but the apps say 365. For nearly a month, PowerPoint completely disappeared.
If my desktop weren't so ancient and slow, I would use it for the internet, but I'm pretty much stuck with a snail's pace on my desktop or rebooting on my laptop. And guess what. It did it three times while I was trying to post this comment.
The people who have not updated to Windows 10, do not want Windows 10 for a variety of reasons. Offering the upgrade was fine. Give me the option, let me check a box somewhere to never offer it again and we are done. That is how it should have went. Instead Microsoft has disguised several of these 'updates' as security updates or something of that nature. I am an IT professional, I can easily go through the updates every month and pick out the landmines, not many people have that ability. Most people have Windows Update just setup to just install updates without even asking and they should be able to do just that.
In a lot of peoples eyes Windows 10 is not some great improvement over Windows 7 or 8.1 in fact they do not want the OS for multiple reasons and that should be their choice.
I am not advocating disabling Windows Updates but it not nearly the issue some people here have posted. Most anyone is behind a NAT preventing the outside internet from connecting to their PC directly. This means that services running with open ports can not be typically attacked from the outside. So this mainly leaves the issue of a user downloading something malicious and running it, a user running Outlook, Word or another Microsoft product and getting hit by a new 0 day exploit. Quite frankly if the user downloaded something malicious an ran it, these updates are not going to stop anything. The user is going to click yes to the User Account Control since they have been pretty much trained to do so and run it. They will be lucky if their AV catches it. Once you download something, give it permission to do anything it wants, it no longer needs some exploit that these updates would have patched.
At the end of the day though these tactics of trying to force Windows 10 down peoples throats is very underhanded...
In a lot of peoples eyes Windows 10 is not some great improvement over Windows 7 or 8.1 in fact they do not want the OS for multiple reasons and that should be their choice.
I am not advocating disabling Windows Updates but it not nearly the issue some people here have posted. Most anyone is behind a NAT preventing the outside internet from connecting to their PC directly. This means that services running with open ports can not be typically attacked from the outside. So this mainly leaves the issue of a user downloading something malicious and running it, a user running Outlook, Word or another Microsoft product and getting hit by a new 0 day exploit. Quite frankly if the user downloaded something malicious an ran it, these updates are not going to stop anything. The user is going to click yes to the User Account Control since they have been pretty much trained to do so and run it. They will be lucky if their AV catches it. Once you download something, give it permission to do anything it wants, it no longer needs some exploit that these updates would have patched.
At the end of the day though these tactics of trying to force Windows 10 down peoples throats is very underhanded...
Nintendork
Distinguished
- Dec 22, 2008
- 464
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- 18,780
Pretty simple, don't install any update to windows 7 post 2014. Also don't install securirity updates, they simple take space and are useless for the avrg user.
- Oct 30, 2004
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The misinformation and FUD in the comments is pretty shocking. There is one and only one reason why Win10 exists and why MS is forcing the issue... and that is as the article describes. MS has a new financial model, well new to them ... not to others like Google and Steam. The monies to be made by selling the OS are dwarfed by the revenue stream that can be obtained by tracking you and selling your information.
Only 20% of eligible Windows 7 / 8 uses have upgraded to Win 10. This is putting a huge hurt on MS who no doubt assured their partners that the free upgrade would be widely accepted. When a television network sells advertising time, the network is expected to deliver a certain numbers of viewers. When they fail to do that, the network is forced in a position to provide "give backs". I would presume this is the reason for MS's gestapo tactics.
1. Turn off Windows Update's ability to install Hardware Drivers. Do not let WU auto install anything. Set it to tell you when updates are available.
2. Visit a reputable site to obtain a list of KBs to uninstall. No, this is definitely not limited to KB3035583. Besides the Win10 upgrade, MS has incorporated a batch of other KBs which install Windows "Tracking Features" into Win 7 and 8
3. Install GWX Control panel, use it or an alternative
4. Uncheck all Windows Updates when opening the utility. Review every KB that appears in WU and make sure you know what it does before you check that box and allow it to be installed.
5. Among the KBs you might want to avoid (telemetry is code word for "we will track you with this") are:
KB3068708 - Described as "This update introduces the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to existing devices.
KB3075249 - Described as "This article describes an update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1
KB3080149 - Described as "This package updates the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to existing devices.
KB3123862 - This update adds capabilities to some computers that lets users easily learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10.
KB 3035583 - According to Microsoft, this update enables "additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications when new updates are available".
KB 2952664 - Labeled a compatibility upgrade for upgrading Windows 7, its purpose is to "make improvements to the current operating system in order to ease the upgrade experience to the latest version of Windows".
KB 2976978 - A compatibility update for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 which "performs diagnostics on the Windows system [..] to determine whether compatibility issues may be encountered when the latest Windows operating system is installed.
KB 3021917 - Does the same as KB 2976978 but on Windows 7.
KB 3044374 - This update for Windows 8.1 enables systems to upgrade from the current operating system to a later version of Windows.
KB 2990214 . Does the same as KB 3044374 but on Windows 7.
KB 3022345 - Update to enable the Diagnostics Tracking Service in Windows (Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8
KB 3123862 - This update adds capabilities to some computers that lets users easily learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10.
KB 3146449 - This update adds functionality to Internet Explorer 11 on some computers that lets users learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10.
Only 20% of eligible Windows 7 / 8 uses have upgraded to Win 10. This is putting a huge hurt on MS who no doubt assured their partners that the free upgrade would be widely accepted. When a television network sells advertising time, the network is expected to deliver a certain numbers of viewers. When they fail to do that, the network is forced in a position to provide "give backs". I would presume this is the reason for MS's gestapo tactics.
1. Turn off Windows Update's ability to install Hardware Drivers. Do not let WU auto install anything. Set it to tell you when updates are available.
2. Visit a reputable site to obtain a list of KBs to uninstall. No, this is definitely not limited to KB3035583. Besides the Win10 upgrade, MS has incorporated a batch of other KBs which install Windows "Tracking Features" into Win 7 and 8
3. Install GWX Control panel, use it or an alternative
4. Uncheck all Windows Updates when opening the utility. Review every KB that appears in WU and make sure you know what it does before you check that box and allow it to be installed.
5. Among the KBs you might want to avoid (telemetry is code word for "we will track you with this") are:
KB3068708 - Described as "This update introduces the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to existing devices.
KB3075249 - Described as "This article describes an update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1
KB3080149 - Described as "This package updates the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to existing devices.
KB3123862 - This update adds capabilities to some computers that lets users easily learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10.
KB 3035583 - According to Microsoft, this update enables "additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications when new updates are available".
KB 2952664 - Labeled a compatibility upgrade for upgrading Windows 7, its purpose is to "make improvements to the current operating system in order to ease the upgrade experience to the latest version of Windows".
KB 2976978 - A compatibility update for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 which "performs diagnostics on the Windows system [..] to determine whether compatibility issues may be encountered when the latest Windows operating system is installed.
KB 3021917 - Does the same as KB 2976978 but on Windows 7.
KB 3044374 - This update for Windows 8.1 enables systems to upgrade from the current operating system to a later version of Windows.
KB 2990214 . Does the same as KB 3044374 but on Windows 7.
KB 3022345 - Update to enable the Diagnostics Tracking Service in Windows (Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8
KB 3123862 - This update adds capabilities to some computers that lets users easily learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10.
KB 3146449 - This update adds functionality to Internet Explorer 11 on some computers that lets users learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10.
Working as a technician for a business with 20+ systems running Windows 7, I arrived one morning recently to find all systems had been force upgraded to Windows 10.
This didn't actually bother us that much, apart from the business solution software we use was not compatible with Windows 10, and the vendor of the software had since shut down, and so no patches were available to us.
The ability to simply rollback the update was rendered useless, as it would display a BSOD every time I tried.
I then had to spend an entire day formatting and reinstalling Windows 7 on to every system we had, and had to go out of my way in blocking Microsoft's auto update hostnames at the network level, to prevent any further interruptions.
For Microsoft to take the stance of assuming that every Windows user either wants, needs, or has the ability to take this "free" upgrade simply amounts to them becoming that desperate to explore new avenues of funding, that they are past the point of caring who they have to hurt in order to get it.
This didn't actually bother us that much, apart from the business solution software we use was not compatible with Windows 10, and the vendor of the software had since shut down, and so no patches were available to us.
The ability to simply rollback the update was rendered useless, as it would display a BSOD every time I tried.
I then had to spend an entire day formatting and reinstalling Windows 7 on to every system we had, and had to go out of my way in blocking Microsoft's auto update hostnames at the network level, to prevent any further interruptions.
For Microsoft to take the stance of assuming that every Windows user either wants, needs, or has the ability to take this "free" upgrade simply amounts to them becoming that desperate to explore new avenues of funding, that they are past the point of caring who they have to hurt in order to get it.
So everything unnecessary is a bad thing? New GPU drivers, updated drivers for other hardware, and a load of other stuff (including minor bug fixes or fixes for specific issues not affecting a wide user base) don't necessarily qualify as "necessary," but are still very useful or could provide tangible benefits to users.
Sorry, what? I've yet to come across a single application that doesn't run well under W10 - even including a couple that Windows itself flagged as incompatible before the update. I agree that the "Hi! These apps were incompatible so we removed them for you. Don't mention it!" approach is stupid. But other than that, W10 has amazingly wide compatibility with both new and old apps.
- May 18, 2007
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I'd like to say I have trouble imagining how it can dip any lower in my opinion but I have no doubt Microsoft will find a way.
I was thinking of getting a new HDD (or possibly an SSD) when the next release build comes out and do a fresh install to try that out before the free upgrade ends but the more desperate Microsoft gets with forcing people to upgrade, the more I lean towards skipping Windows X in protest.
Gryphon Serpente
Reputable
- Nov 18, 2014
- 6
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- 4,510
i like to wipe and reload my system at least once a year... my question is.. I have my hard copy of my Win 7 Ultimate to reload from... If I wipe and reload after 10 reimages my system.. i'm hosed and will just install 7 Ult again anyway.
Martell1977
Splendid
- Oct 26, 2010
- 3,845
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When I upgraded one of my Windows 7 machines to 10, without any input from me, it removed Office 2003 (old but I like it and it works), CPUz, HWmonitor, Battle.net app, Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security and MSI Afterburner. These all run under Windows 10, but I had to re-download and reinstall them, except Office, I had to uninstall Office 365 and then reinstall my Office.
There is no good reason for the Windows 10 upgrade to remove these and these are just the ones it removed for me. I can only imagine the other things it would remove.
ramon zarat
Distinguished
- Apr 20, 2010
- 37
- 0
- 18,530
M$ desperation level is now well over 9000. This is so beyond unacceptable, it should be criminal.
nukemaster
Titan
- Nov 23, 2004
- 19,623
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