Microsoft 'Accident' Forces Windows 10 Onto Windows 7, Windows 8

Ron Czapala

Read full article at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/10/16/microsoft-accident-forces-windows-10-onto-windows-7-windows-8/?utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix

Excerpt:

Right now Microsoft seems to take two steps forward then two steps back. Having just wowed crowds with stunning new hardware and made Windows 10 activation easier, the company has now followed up its admission of forced Windows 10 downloads with confirmation that Windows 10 upgrades have also been performed on Windows 7 and Windows 8 without user permission…

The news follows a report on Ars Technica by Peter Bright that Microsoft changed the ‘Optional’ upgrade status of Windows 10 without any warning. The subtle change simply ticked the box beside the upgrade by default in Windows Update on Windows 7 and Windows 8. This meant an upgrade to Windows 10 would be automatically performed the next time the user installed any Important updates.

Dr_Acula

Hmm - not sure I want that!

My experience with being an early windows 10 tester is that I started with a paid version of Win 8.1 and upgraded to the beta of Win 10. Initially it had some teething problems - metro still there from Win 8, and the start menu only worked with the right mouse button. These seemed to get fixed over time. But then the automatic uploads crashed and I got stuck with a version from earlier this year. Then it announced the version was out of date and would reboot every few hours. And then yesterday it completely locked me out with an "expired" error at bootup and no option to do anything more than this.

So Windows 10 has bricked my machine. To fix this I'll have to take out the hard drive and set it up as a slave on another machine and get the data off it that way.

Time to turn off automatic updates on Win 7.

Ron Czapala

I always checked the updates and hid the ones that were related to the Windows 10 upgrade. They would magically get "un-hidden" but eventually stopped appearing and I managed to keep Windows 7 intact.

RDL2004

I've been watching very carefully lately to make sure nothing but security updates go through. One thing to avoid is any update which claims to "make improvements" to Windows Update.

I'm getting real close to just turning off updates completely because I feel I'm in more danger from Microsoft than some bunch of hackers that have never really caused me any problems.

Heater.

What happens when MS classifies some "make improvements to Windows Update" as "security update"?

RDL2004

Heater. wrote: »

What happens when MS classifies some "make improvements to Windows Update" as security update"?

I would probably just skip that update, but based on Microsoft's recent lack of ability to do the right thing, I doubt they'd be truthful enough to describe it that clearly.

I don't even install "security" updates immediately, best to wait a week or so to let other people find out if they cause any problems.

LoopyByteloose

What is Microsoft doing? I can't quite believe that this is all an accident as they have played with plausible deniablity just too many times in the past.

The bottom-line is that Microsoft pushes customers to accept their agenda rather than listening to what the customer wants. I am not sure why this is so, but it is a huge failing.

TSMC, the work horse silicon foundry of Taiwan has reported 0.0% growth for 2015, down from an esitmate of 3%. The reality is that the computer industry on a global basis is seeing growth flatlining, both the future demand of desktop and cellular telephones are creeping toward negative growth. It may just be a bit late in the game for Microsoft to try to establish new demand for Windows 10.

I feel more secure with Linux, and I have no trust that my Android phone is not open to local police for whatever they want to do. My whole security scheme is to presume anything on the internet is public, and any computer in my home that is on 24/7 is a hazard -- including the cell phone.

LoopyByteloose

Ron Czapala wrote: »

I always checked the updates and hid the ones that were related to the Windows 10 upgrade. They would magically get "un-hidden" but eventually stopped appearing and I managed to keep Windows 7 intact.

So far, I have tried several times to turn off automatic updates; but it seems to have a mind of its own. Since I am using Windows 7 Starter, there is no free upgrade for Windows 10, but that doesn't seem to get through to Microsoft. They keep interfering with my Windows 7 installation.

RDL2004

Loopy Byteloose wrote: »

So far, I have tried several times to turn off automatic updates; but it seems to have a mind of its own.

I wonder if that is a limitation in the starter version. Have you tried turning off the actual service?

Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services

Right click on "Windows Update", select "Properties" and change the "Startup type" to "Disabled"

Cluso99

I am running Windows 10 and it's mostly fine. Edge has a few quirks that need fixing.
I cannot run my very very old Protel PCB package so I keep another laptop with Windows 7 (32bit) for that one program

I have disabled every update feature that I could find (with the help of the web articles). But I know that I have not got everything as it still does its thing often enough. This is the part that annoys me.

However, I am not going to Linux or Android, just to make a stand. I gave up command line stuff eons ago so that means Linux is out. Android is still not up to the task yet, but its getting there.

Meanwhile, I am extremely happy with ios8 on my iPhone's and iPad's. Waiting for the dust to settle with ios9. I just want to use them as they were designed, hence no need to get down to the metal - meaning I don't need Android.