Windows 10 by stealth

[Tony Moore]

Anyone who wishes to retain Win7, and avoid Win10, should read
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/02/02/microsoft-starts-downloading-windows-10-automatically-through-wi/
As far as I can see, a way to avoid this sneaky behaviour is to visit
Control Panel > Windows Update, then

click 'Change settings'

under 'Important updates' choose

'Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and
instal them'

under 'Recommended updates' tick

'Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important
updates'

click 'OK'

This may not be foolproof because, at the bottom of the page, it says
'Note: Windows Update might update itself automatically first when
chacking for other updates ...'. This might also re-set settings, and
thus negate any changes, made as above.

Any thoughts?

Tony

[Dave Symes]

In article <1126ab4b55.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>,

I'm sure in the recent past I posted...

**********************************************

With regard to MS and W10 auto downloading...

It appears a specific Windows update when installed causes this to happen.

Go to ControlPanel run "Windows Update"
on the top LH side click "View update history"
Second line down in the new display ...To remove an update, see (the link)
"Installed Updates" click that link.

New window. Wait while the list is constructed, then...

Find the Windows update KB3035583 and uninstall it.

Reboot the computer.

Log in to Windows updates and check for Updates, and when it is again
offered in the list, *Hide* the update rather than download/installing
it. That effectively stops it being offered again as an update.

*************************************************

I of course reserve the right to be wrong. ;-)

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[Vince M Hudd]

Tony Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Anyone who wishes to retain Win7, and avoid Win10, should read
>
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/02/02/microsoft-starts-downloading-windows-10-automatically-through-wi/

[snip instructions]

> This may not be foolproof because, at the bottom of the page, it says
> 'Note: Windows Update might update itself automatically first when
> chacking for other updates ...'. This might also re-set settings, and thus
> negate any changes, made as above.

That note is absolutely correct - my original plan was to wait a while (to
allow the expected initial Win10 teething problems to be addressed), then
upgrade. As such, I didn't intitially object to the 'GWX' update that
brought with it the option to upgrade - that's the KB3035583 one Dave
mentions in his reply.

However, the little bastard morphed from being an innocuous icon on which I
could click to update if/when I chose, into nagware... then worse.

At one point, the Windows 10 update almost happened without me having
selected it - so I turned off automatic updates, and made it as per the
instructions you quoted: Check for updates, but let me choose - and
somewhere down the line, that somehow changed back to automatic again.
(There was also at one point a massive 'Get Windows 10 now' splash - ticked
- in the Windows Update screen.)

Getting rid of KB3035583 as Dave suggests stops that sort of crap happening.

(Note also that Microsoft are about to change the Windows 10 update from an
optional one to a recommended one.)

These annoyances, combined with a little more slurping than I'm comfortable
with, have had two outcomes for me:

Firstly, when it comes to my existing Windows installations, I'm now
periodically doing a manual check for updates, applying only the updates I'm
happy with.

Secondly, although my original plan was to wait a while then get Windows 10,
Microsoft can now shove it where the sun doesn't shine.

I'm still using Windows because I have to run various pieces of software
that are only available for Windows - I do intend to experiment with Linux
(Mint probably) on a spare machine when I get it up and running again, but
whether I can switch depends on that software.

(One example: Sage Accounts. There are many alternatives to Sage, but I have
yet to find one that offers all of the facilities I use, or which copes with
all of situations I encounter with client accounts - and which doesn't slow
me down by having a brain dead user interface.)

--
Vince M Hudd
Soft Rock Software

Don't forget to vote in the 2015 RISC OS Awards:
www.riscosawards.co.uk/vote2015.html

[Theo Markettos]

Tony Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Anyone who wishes to retain Win7, and avoid Win10, should read
> http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/02/02/microsoft-starts-downloading-windows-10-automatically-through-wi/
> As far as I can see, a way to avoid this sneaky behaviour is to visit
> Control Panel > Windows Update, then

Install GWX Control Panel. It blocks all the shape-changing ways MS keeps
using to foist Windows 10 on users, and is simple to use.

Theo

[Tony Moore]

On 2 Feb 2016, Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

[snip]

> I'm sure in the recent past I posted...

[snip hiding KB3035583, etc]

Some months ago, when W10 push started, I made some registry changes
which were supposed to eliminate the W10 icon, and prevent any further
W10 downloads. The icon duly disappeared but it seems that the downloads
continued, without reference to me. A couple of days ago, a search for
GWX found scores of files, all relating to W10.

I have now run the utility suggested by Theo, GWX Control Panel, which
has, I hope, fixed the problem - pending further deviousness from MS.

Tony

[Tony Moore]

On 2 Feb 2016, Vince M Hudd <atdotc...@dotcodotukat.co.uk> wrote:
> Tony Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

[snip]

> > 'Note: Windows Update might update itself automatically first when
> > chacking for other updates ...'. This might also re-set settings,
> > and thus negate any changes, made as above.

[snip]

> Getting rid of KB3035583 as Dave suggests stops that sort of crap
> happening.

Hiding the update is possible with Win7 Pro, but not Win7 Home. On my
Home laptop I made registry changes which were supposed to have the same
effect as hiding the update, but I have found that scores of Win10 files
have been downloaded, anyway.

> (Note also that Microsoft are about to change the Windows 10 update
> from an optional one to a recommended one.)

I believe that the policy change came into effect on 1 Feb 2016, so
extra vigilance is needed. I've now installed the utility syggested by
Theo, GWX Control Panel, which looks to be an excellent solution.

[snip]

> I'm now periodically doing a manual check for updates, applying only
> the updates I'm happy with.

Unfortunately, the real purpose of an update is often unclear.

> Secondly, although my original plan was to wait a while then get
> Windows 10

Some months ago I did 'upgrade' to Win10 but was not impressed by the
GUI and, when I found that RPCEmu networking was unstable, I rolled back
to Win7, where I intend to stay.

Tony

[Tony Moore]

On 2 Feb 2016, Theo Markettos <theom...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> Tony Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> > Anyone who wishes to retain Win7, and avoid Win10, should

[snip]

> Install GWX Control Panel. It blocks all the shape-changing ways MS
> keeps using to foist Windows 10 on users, and is simple to use.

Theo, that's brilliant - many thanks for the suggestion. Simple and well
documented. Download http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/ User guide
http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/2015/08/using-gwx-stopper-to-permanently-remove.html

Tony

[John]

In article
<afad304c55.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>, Tony

Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Hiding the update is possible with Win7 Pro, but not Win7
> Home. On my Home laptop I made registry changes which
> were supposed to have the same effect as hiding the
> update, but I have found that scores of Win10 files have
> been downloaded, anyway.

I've just done it on Win 7 Home, but then, I've not made
any registry changes.

John

--
John
new...@blueyonder.co.uk
j dot mccartney atte blueyonder dot co dot uk

[Tony Moore]

On 3 Feb 2016, John <new...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <afad304c55.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>, Tony
> Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Hiding the update is possible with Win7 Pro, but not Win7 Home. On
> > my Home laptop I made registry changes which were supposed to have
> > the same effect as hiding the update, but I have found that scores
> > of Win10 files have been downloaded, anyway.
>
> I've just done it on Win 7 Home, but then, I've not made any registry
> changes.

Revisiting the problem, it seems that the update must be uninstalled,
then hidden when it re-appears, prior to installation? I can't remember
now exactly why that didn't work - or even if that's what I tried. The
registry changes were made after not being able to hide the update.

Tony

[John]

In article
<97f7374c55.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>, Tony

Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> On 3 Feb 2016, John <new...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> > In article
> > <afad304c55.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>, Tony
> > Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > > Hiding the update is possible with Win7 Pro, but not
> > > Win7 Home. On my Home laptop I made registry changes
> > > which were supposed to have the same effect as hiding
> > > the update, but I have found that scores of Win10
> > > files have been downloaded, anyway.
> >
> > I've just done it on Win 7 Home, but then, I've not
> > made any registry changes.

> Revisiting the problem, it seems that the update must be
> uninstalled, then hidden when it re-appears, prior to
> installation?

That's exactly what I did.

[John]

In article <554c41b3...@blueyonder.co.uk>, John

<new...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> In article
> <97f7374c55.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>, Tony
> Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> > On 3 Feb 2016, John <new...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> > > In article
> > > <afad304c55.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>,
> > > Tony Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hiding the update is possible with Win7 Pro, but
> > > > not Win7 Home. On my Home laptop I made registry
> > > > changes which were supposed to have the same effect
> > > > as hiding the update, but I have found that scores
> > > > of Win10 files have been downloaded, anyway.
> > >
> > > I've just done it on Win 7 Home, but then, I've not
> > > made any registry changes.

> > Revisiting the problem, it seems that the update must
> > be uninstalled, then hidden when it re-appears, prior
> > to installation?

> That's exactly what I did.

I had notification of another update this morning.
KB3123862 describes itself as an update to 64-bit Windows 7
but when I did a search, it appears that it is yet more
preparation for Windows 10. I've now hidden it.

[Tony Moore]

On 4 Feb 2016, John <new...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

[snip]

> I had notification of another update this morning. KB3123862 describes
> itself as an update to 64-bit Windows 7 but when I did a search, it
> appears that it is yet more preparation for Windows 10. I've now
> hidden it.

I don't have much faith in hiding updates. MS knows where they are
hidden, and could un-hide them without reference to the user.

'GWX Control Panel' clearly shows what is, or is not, already present,
and action buttons allow the various items to be removed, or otherwise
dealt with. The app also has a monitor mode which provides continuous
surveillance, and warns of any attempt to load GWX related material.

Tony

[John]

In article
<f079af4c55.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>, Tony

It seems like the way to go. So...

...I'll go.

[Tony Moore]

KB3123862 has now arrived here. As you say, the update seems to be in
preparation for W10, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3123862 says

The update adds capabilities to some computers that lets users easily
learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10.

Nevertheless I decided to install it, to see the reaction of GWX Control
Panel but, in fact, there was none. The status of the machine has not
changed and there was no reaction from the GWXCP monitor. In retrospect,
I suppose that GWXCP is probably not yet aware of this update.

Anyway, I visited Installed updates, found KB3123862 and chose to un-
install it. The machine went through the motions of uninstalling, then
re-starting, etc but I now find that the update is still listed in the
update history, as being successfully installed, but it has vanished
from the list of Installed updates, so that there is now no way of
uninstalling it.

If nothing else, this incident has convinced me of Microsoft's deceitful
nature. KB3123862 is classified as an optional update, which would not
normally attract much scrutiny, and which would be installed as a matter
of course.

I've now locked everything down, pending GWXCP catching up.

Tony

[Tony Moore]

On 4 Feb 2016, Tony Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

[snip]

> Anyway, I visited Installed updates, found KB3123862 and chose to un-
> install it. The machine went through the motions of uninstalling, then
> re-starting, etc but I now find that the update is still listed in the
> update history, as being successfully installed, but it has vanished
> from the list of Installed updates, so that there is now no way of
> uninstalling it.

KB3123862 has reappeared as an optional candidate for installation. This
presumably means that un-installation yesterday _was_ successful, but
there is still no record of its un-installation in the update history.

In the same batch of optional updates, a couple of days ago:

KB3135445 makes unspecified 'improvements' to Windows Update Client.

KB2952664 relates to upgrading to the 'latest version of Windows'

It seems that it will be necessary to inspect _every_ update before
installation.

Tony

[Alan Dawes]

In article <13dd3b4d55.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>,

Are these anything to do with installing on your computer the peer-to-peer
network that Microsoft by default is using to download at least part of
win10 upgrades? I first heard about this from a Which update 12/11/2015:

http://tinyurl.com/jdjbdhp

My wife had already updated from win7 to win10 and had found the download
extremely slow but once installed had given a speed up to her laptop, but
from time to time it was very sluggish with network light flashing. It
looks like Microsoft was using her computer to upgrade other peoples
computers by P2P thus slowing her computer. On standard broadband the
upload speed is slow which means that it took a long time for anyone elses
upgrade and similarly explained why her original download was so slow as
someone elses computer was being used to upload to her.

She had already started to download the next update for win10 but that was
very slow and kept stopping so she cancelled it. We then read the Which
article and carried out the instructions to change the win10 update
sharing settings from the default:

Setting 2: permits Windows 10 to share files with other computers on both
your local network, and every other Windows 10 user on the internet.

to:

Setting 1 permits Windows 10 to share files with other computers on your
local network only.

Having done this she has not had the periodic slow down and when she did
do the big win10 update it downloaded quickly presumably because it was
downloaded from a fast Miscrosoft Server rather than from someone else by
P2P.

Alan

--
alan....@argonet.co.uk
alan....@riscos.org
Using an ARMX6

[Tony Moore]

On 5 Feb 2016, Alan Dawes <alan....@argonet.co.uk> wrote:

[snip]

> Are these [updates] anything to do with installing on your computer

> the peer-to-peer network that Microsoft by default is using to
> download at least part of win10 upgrades?

With MS nothing is certain, but the p2p network has been discussed
online since mid 2015, so one would assume that the necessary code had
been put in place, long ago.

[snip]

> My wife had already updated from win7 to win10 and had found the
> download extremely slow

When win10 was first mooted, I decided to try it and so 'reserved' a
copy. Some weeks later I was notified that win10 was ready to install
but, until then, I'd no idea that any download had taken place.

> but once installed had given a speed up to her laptop

During the week that I stayed with win10, I didn't notice any increase
in speed, Maybe I was diverted by the various annoyances which led me to
roll back to win7.

[snip: MS p2p slowing network connection]

Interesting. Here (Ghana) I have an iBurst wireless connection which, on
a good day, downloads at about 500kb/s and uploads even more slowly. The
account is capped at 6GB per month. From what you say, it seems that MS
could monopolise my connection, and waste my bandwidth. Another good
reason to stay away from win10.

Tony

[Andrew Wickham]

On Saturday, 6 February 2016 13:03:24 UTC, Tony Moore wrote:

>
> Interesting. Here (Ghana) I have an iBurst wireless connection which, on
> a good day, downloads at about 500kb/s and uploads even more slowly. The
> account is capped at 6GB per month. From what you say, it seems that MS
> could monopolise my connection, and waste my bandwidth. Another good
> reason to stay away from win10.
>

Yes. We had an unexpected 3GB in August which tipped over the cap (we're normally within 2GB - if I knew I'd be doing a big d/l I set it up to run overnight which is unmetered, but Win10 just arrived). Now it may be a function of having a couple more Android devices in the house, but since then we have regularly breached the cap and I've changed contract to go unmetered - with the apparent side effect of losing roughly 1/3 of the speed!

But aside from that the transition has been reasonably painless (touch wood), though we don't use a wide range of Windows software. I have RISC OS, Linux and IRIX for that!

[Dave Symes]

Just a heads up Awooga awooga!...

Did a MS Win update early this AM.
GWX Control Panel Monitor woke up flashing.

Apparently MS update KB3035583 contains some more Win 10 stuff.

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[David Pitt]

Dave Symes, on 27 Feb, wrote:

> Just a heads up Awooga awooga!...
>
> Did a MS Win update early this AM. GWX Control Panel Monitor woke up
> flashing.
>
> Apparently MS update KB3035583 contains some more Win 10 stuff.

I think that this is the 'same old, same old' Get Windows 10 icon app, the
root of all ... etc...

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3037393/microsoft-windows/get-windows-10-nagware-patch-kb-3035583-suddenly-reappears-on-win781-pcs.html

--
David Pitt

[Tony Moore]

On 27 Feb 2016, Dave Symes <da...@triffid.co.uk> wrote:

> Just a heads up Awooga awooga!...
>
> Did a MS Win update early this AM.
> GWX Control Panel Monitor woke up flashing.

Good to know that GWXCP is working. I've turned off automatic updates,
so KB3035583 never installed. Did yours install, and GWXCP raised the
alarm, or did GWXCP prevent the installation?

> Apparently MS update KB3035583 contains some more Win 10 stuff.

As David Pitt says, it's the same old story. From MS KB:

Update installs Get Windows 10 app in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1

This update installs the Get Windows 10 app that helps users
understand their Windows 10 upgrade options and device readiness.

Tony

[Dave Symes]

In article <44b2905855.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>,

Yes it did install along with a couple of others, but as soon as it
started to install KB3035583 the GWXCP icon started to flash.
As soon as it had finished installing I opened the Control Panel and
clicked the Button to Delete Windows 10 programs, which it appears to have
done.

It appears KB3035583 was still showing in the list of updates, but its
payload had been removed.

I've since manually removed the update itself.

Dave

--

Dave Triffid