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Papit wrote: +1 kudos for giving us the ultimateoutsider link, http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/. It's works well for those who don't want to download Windows 10 and makes it easy to once and for all get rid of the 'get Windows 10' icon from the notification field in the lower right section of the task bar.

Thank you for the thank you Papit.

FIRST OFF: USE THE GWX CONTROL PANEL AT YOUR OWN RISK

See red highlight above: generally the nag pop-up will not be seen again. HOWEVER, MS will still try to update/upload the necessary update files that install Win 10. Luckily, the installed version of GWX will continuously monitor in the background any attempts that MS makes to upload those Win 10 updates. Please note: the optional standalone GWX version will not continuously monitor in the background, you have to do that yourself from time to time by checking the updates and and your computer's registry. IOW, get the install version unless you're a sys-op (read the GWX manual) Anyway, when GWX spots any windows registry changes on your machine it will alert you and you can take action with GWX to remove the new files and subsequent affected registry changes. You will use buttons shown at the bottom half of my previous screen shot of GWX. In stubborn cases you also can clear the upload cache thru GWX - however first read the user manual before you clear the cache. Finally, GWX prompts you to reset the registry values to exclude Win 10 from running an install. Sadly, once the install of Win 10 starts there's not much the current version of GWX can do to stop it. Finish the lengthy install then take advantage of the 30 day Win 10 removal offer MS makes. (Hope it works )
The takeaway from this last sentence is that if you are contemplating stopping a Win 10 install you'd better do it NOW. MS can override your update config to do the Win 10 install automatically! Yes, against your desire and your 'let me view first' update settings you thought were safe.

This easy-to-use program only does what sys-ops have been doing manually for half a year to keep Win 10 out of their clients computers. So, in summary will GWX stop MS Win 10 from updating forever? No, this is only one stage of a battle, and this is clearly a long term campaign. Software is rarely ever just finished.

If I made any mistakes in my analysis of GWX or whatever please feel free to correct me.

Sir NoddinOff wrote:Anybody who's planning on going to Win 10 should definitely watch this video on Five Reasons to Avoid Win 10:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOSLCxMUM6Y

That video is out of date (August 2015). Some of the issues in the video have been resolved.

In addition, some of his complaints are based on "unsubstantiated rumors". In fairness to the dude, he even says this. But why put "unsubstantiated rumors" in a video.

My opinion is people just like to whine about big companies.

The upgrade to 10 from 8.1 was a non-event in my household. Works fine and is supported.

Yes, GWX works well for holding off Windows 10 upgrade - if you install the full version of GWX and have it monitor. Often, when there are Windows updates, Microsoft re-enables the Windows 10 automatic upgrade without asking you and Microsoft keeps getting more aggressive about forcing the upgrade on people.

On the other hand, I installed Windows 10 on a separate disk to try it out and after neutralizing the spyware aspects, it works fine and I've gotten to like it. I use the free tool Spybot Anti-beacon and recommend it to keep windows 10 from sending lots of information about your computer use to Microsoft: https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/

But please note that if you decide to upgrade to or install Windows 10 you should NOT do an automatic update or install but do a custom install and use a guide like this one: http://www.slate.com/articles/technolog ... ingle.html The default upgrade or install will send all kinds of information to Microsoft and even use your computer and bandwidth to deliver Windows 10 upgrades to other people.

The biggest problem I had with Win8 when I tried it with a new desktop some time ago was more what it didn't support. For example, my laser printer which has a scanner and can FAX, the only drivers under Win8 would allow it to be a printer only, no drivers for using as a scanner, Fax. Also had some serious issues with the VPN client I need to use with work, connection to work was okay, but then any local or local Internet access was not.

So I sent the machine back and got the same machine with Win7Pro on it. It is my main driver in my home office. We don't have any Win8 - Win10 boxes here at the house at all.

Since I got back at work from Vacation, I have loaded from scratch one of my workstations there and now am using Win8.1. The entire office is upgrading to Win8.1 as a business and across North America. That seems to work pretty well, and all software I use on it works well. I don't use VPN on it to other sites there so I don't know if they fixed that and we have plenty of printers at work which I can use with it.

Still think the tile thing is dumb, and I am normally only in Desktop mode.

Played with Win10 for a bit with a secondary workstation and it worked good as well.

What I don't like with Win10 is the lack of control of when the machine does an update. I have on several occasions had an Windows update break something important and had to back track in the past. I only want to do an update when I have time to deal with issues. So assuming I ever upgrade to it, I would need to control that.

I do use the GWX control and have it in monitor mode. Several times after a system reboot, it has warned that Msft has changed the Allow Windows Automatic update to switch to on, and I switch it off again.



This is a new thing, as it only started doing this recently.

Thanks Krelvin for that tip... I'm just doing an MS update right now (57 files) so I'll look for what you described so clearly.

BTW, it looks like you're using the previous version of GWX (see my screen grab pic on the previous page) The new version has a few new features and is clearer to use. Upgrading GWX is pretty easy from what I've heard ... just right click on the black bar on the top and then click 'check for updates' which will download the new files. No uninstall necessary.

Also, use the Clear Windows Update Cache button as a last resort for stubborn cases and be sure to read the GWX manual for that button so you know what to expect.

Yaconsult: Many thanks for your info and especially about the Spybot Anti-Beacon for Windows. It's also good for win 7 and 8 apparently. I hate big corps peeking over my shoulder all the time

zen42 wrote:I installed it on 2 computers. I then uninstalled it on day 29 on one of them with no
problem and it didn't take long at all. But I let the other computer get to day 31 and
it was to late to uninstalls it. Well that's why I had made a complete backup before
I tried it.

Note that after 30 days, Microsoft automatically converts your Windows 7 license into a Windows 10 license. So, while you may have a backup of Windows 7, after 30 days you no longer have a license for Windows 7. If you go back to Windows 7 it will start complaining about not having a license after the grace period runs out.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/02/06 ... ft-servers

Another reason not to install it

Curious about the various telemetry and personal information being collected by Windows 10, one user installed Windows 10 Enterprise and disabled all of the telemetry and reporting options. Then he configured his router to log all the connections that happened anyway. Even after opting out wherever possible, his firewall captured Windows making around 4,000 connection attempts to 93 different IP addresses during an 8 hour period, with most of those IPs controlled by Microsoft. Even the enterprise version of Windows 10 is checking in with Redmond when you tell it not to — and it's doing so frequently.

BlackSpinner wrote:http://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/02/06 ... ft-servers

Another reason not to install it

Curious about the various telemetry and personal information being collected by Windows 10, one user installed Windows 10 Enterprise and disabled all of the telemetry and reporting options. Then he configured his router to log all the connections that happened anyway. Even after opting out wherever possible, his firewall captured Windows making around 4,000 connection attempts to 93 different IP addresses during an 8 hour period, with most of those IPs controlled by Microsoft. Even the enterprise version of Windows 10 is checking in with Redmond when you tell it not to — and it's doing so frequently.

This is what Spybot Anti-beacon was created for. It redirects all the attempts windows 10 makes to connect to all the tracking servers at microsoft and sets them to go nowhere, ie, IP = 0,0.0.0.

yaconsult wrote: This is what Spybot Anti-beacon was created for. It redirects all the attempts windows 10 makes to connect to all the tracking servers at microsoft and sets them to go nowhere, ie, IP = 0,0.0.0.

I know. The average user, like my father and sister, hasn't got a clue this is even an issue or where to go looking for safe help. Oh and I got a call from Windows yesterday that my Ubuntu machine was compromised.....

BlackSpinner wrote:

yaconsult wrote: This is what Spybot Anti-beacon was created for. It redirects all the attempts windows 10 makes to connect to all the tracking servers at microsoft and sets them to go nowhere, ie, IP = 0,0.0.0.

I know. The average user, like my father and sister, hasn't got a clue this is even an issue or where to go looking for safe help. Oh and I got a call from Windows yesterday that my Ubuntu machine was compromised.....

Everytime I get that call I tell them I'm running Linux. Doesn't keep them from calling back though.

OkyDoky wrote:
Everytime I get that call I tell them I'm running Linux. Doesn't keep them from calling back though.

Next time I will ask if they can give a quote for installation of triple glaze windows in my studio!

Sir NoddinOff wrote:Anybody who's planning on going to Win 10 should definitely watch this video on Five Reasons to Avoid Win 10:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOSLCxMUM6Y

Stay informed and THEN make a decision.

He also includes five reasons why you might like Win 10.

Also, anybody who doubts the honesty of GWX's creator (Josh) might like to read the comments or the blog section at his website at Ultimate Outsider... he's been doing this stuff for a long time and is totally devoted to several computer causes. AGAIN, some people are ripping off his GWX control panel program, so get a clean version only from the Ultimate Outsider website:

http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/

BTW, it's totally free.

+1

I waited for a while after Windows 10 came out, until the inevitable first big bug fix came out, and then installed it. It worked fine with my software, including Sleepy Head, but promptly locked me out of all of my subdirectories for things like MS Word ("You must be an administrator..." with no recognition that in fact I WAS). No matter what I tried, I could not get ownership of those folders back. So I went back to Windows 7. Still had to retake ownership of all of the subdirectories manually - what a pain! But at least I could do it.

Anyone know whether MS fixed that bug? Anyone else even have that problem?

.


http://www.extremetech.com/computing/21 ... h-browsers
.

Just a quick update: GWX control panel software (see earlier entries) is still preventing Win 10 from attempting an install on my computers. This is about the one month mark after my initial install of GWX. Once, about two weeks ago, MS tried to load the hidden Win 10 install app on my laptop, however GWX found it and allowed me to erase the files related to it. No additional issues to report other than success keeping Win 7 running smoothly on all my computers. Download here cuz there are other copies out that that are not kosher:
http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/

Download the 'install' version unless you are a computer manager, sysop or such.