Microsoft is forcing users to upgrade to Windows 10

[Wild Zontargs]

Time for your monthly reminder that if you have Recommended Updates enabled, MS will install Win10 on your machine. The twist this time is, it doesn't even ask for confirmation before starting:

What’s odd, however, is that even if Windows 10 is indeed marked as a recommended update, it should still prompt you to begin the install, so users are still supposed to be allowed to choose whether to deploy it or not. Terry Myerson, head of the OS group at Microsoft, warned in October that this could happen though.

“Depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device. Before the upgrade changes the OS of your device, you will be clearly prompted to choose whether or not to continue,” he said.

Yep, went afk and saw this message box that said something like "Your update is ready! Restarting and installing in 13 minutes". If I made myself a meal or watched tv, I would have had windows 10. Oh, and the best part is how they hid the "Decline" button in the more info button.

This isn't just screwing over home users, either:

The upgrade [also] happens to domain joined pro versions of the OS. The only OS that is immune is Enterprise, which isn't common even in business due to its cost.

We've been getting calls trickling in all week from doctor's offices, dental practices, B&Bs, and roofing companies -- among others -- that have been hit by this and it's a fucking mess.

In some cases the upgrade went OK and the user is just really confused. In others Windows 10 is asking for a login password the user set years ago and hasn't used since, that was fun. In still another it's screwed up access to their shared folders.

I'm >this< close to telling the techs to disable automatic updates completely for all business customers.

[Purple]

A question. If you disable automatic updates completely are you safe from updating forever?

[Tribble]

A question. If you disable automatic updates completely are you safe from updating forever?

I think so, but you'd have to completely disable all updates. I found that even if you set updates to "notify me if they are available but do not download or install," some updates will still installed anyways. I'm not sure exactly how MS did it, but it was really annoying to boot my computer up and see the get windows 10 icon, even though I hadn't updates in weeks.

Of course, you're going to be nagged by the OS for disabling the updates, but if you want to avoid Win 10 that pretty much seems to be the only way to do it.

[Tribble]

Oh, and apparently MS is now including "get windows 10" Adware into their security updates:

JUST WHEN YOU thought Microsoft had stooped as low as it could with Updategate, along comes another low blow. This time it's an advertising payload hidden in a security patch.

First discovered by Woody Leonhard at InfoWorld, this month's KB3139929 security fix issued as part of Patch Tuesday has a trojan horse inside - KB3146449 - under the rather vague explanation of "several non-security-related fixes for Internet Explorer".

What this actually does is makes Internet Explorer display a blue banner on the new tab page which says: 'Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 10.'

What makes it even more spectacular is that it is in no way separate from the security patch - you uninstall the security patch or keep the ad-generating payload.

You know what, Microsoft? We're calling it. You're infecting your customers' PCs with software over which they have no control and, worse still, could actually be worse off for not installing.

Basically, this is adware. Adware is a type of virus. As such, you are now hacking your own customers. It has to stop. Every time there's a line to cross, Windows 10 seems to cross it. Microsoft, you have actually become downright evil.

We said at the time of the launch that there was something unsettling and Orwellian about the way Satya Nadella sold us Windows 10. By golly were we right.

KB3146449 doesn't appear in your update history. The only way you can tell if you've got it is the banner appearing. The only way of stopping it is not to install the update. That's megalomania.

Oh, and one more thing that Leonhard spotted. If your machine is on a domain you won't get this payload - only if you're an individual.

This means that the people with the big bucks - the corporations - have no reason to complain while the little guy gets kicked in the craw.

Remember: these aren't Windows 10 customers, so the 'well that's what you get for free' rule doesn't apply. These are the people who haven't upgraded yet, the ones who paid for the operating system.

We've asked Microsoft for comment, but the corporate excuse-bot is getting a bit tiresome now.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/new ... ay-updates

Basically, if you download this update, every time you open a tab in IE 11 a "get windows 10" adware will pop up to nag you. What's worse, you can't uninstall this update by itself since its grouped with a bunch of other legitimate security updates. There's a pretty good chance that all future updates will include features such as this, barring MS backing down due to public backlash (and let's be honest they've never done that so far, so why would they start backing down now?)

Of course you could simply choose not to use IE11 and this avoid the adware, but that's besides the point. I think it's a pretty safe bet that eventually the only update available for Win 7 and Win 8 users will be to upgrade to Windows 10. It will be something along the lines of "upgrading to Windows 10 is the signal best thing that a user could do to improve safety and security, so there's no point in sending out regular patches for windows 7 and 8. The only patch required is Windows 10." Or something like that.

[Lord Revan]

if any spyware Win10 has is easy enough to disable the question is can I run things like STO or WoW if I upgrade as it's starting to become too much work to avoid the upgrade.

[Wild Zontargs]

if any spyware Win10 has is easy enough to disable the question is can I run things like STO or WoW if I upgrade as it's starting to become too much work to avoid the upgrade.

You'd best do some searching on your specific games and hardware. Some people are reporting that the drivers Win10 uses don't play well with certain games.

[Elheru Aran]

The other day I turned on the computer, and clicked on the W10 update thing by accident.

It comes up and tells me it's gone ahead and scheduled an automatic change-over to W10. What the fuck. I killed that as soon as I could, but I don't like that.

My wife's pushing me to just go ahead and change over too. She doesn't buy the whole issue with privacy and doesn't care about how MS is being a shit, because she's not a techy person. Apparently all the computers at her work have changed over already and she doesn't care. So I'm a bit concerned that I'm going to come home one of these days and see W10 sitting pretty on the monitor...

[Ace Pace]

The other day I turned on the computer, and clicked on the W10 update thing by accident.

It comes up and tells me it's gone ahead and scheduled an automatic change-over to W10. What the fuck. I killed that as soon as I could, but I don't like that.

My wife's pushing me to just go ahead and change over too. She doesn't buy the whole issue with privacy and doesn't care about how MS is being a shit, because she's not a techy person. Apparently all the computers at her work have changed over already and she doesn't care. So I'm a bit concerned that I'm going to come home one of these days and see W10 sitting pretty on the monitor...

Can someone please explain to me what is the issue?

Your phone has the exact same "spyware". So does your browser (if you use one of the big 3). Your entire behavior online and in most software is tagged. You're just giving information to yet another party. Which has a higher standard of behavior with your data than most places you give your data to.

[Purple]

There is a post earlier in this thread that outlines some of the chief complaints: (emphasis mine)

In addition to what others have said, privacy is a big issue as well. Of course, other versions of windows have probably been sending all your info to MS but WIndows 10 is the most brazen about it. By default pretty much everything you do is recorded, logged, and sent to MS, including keystrokes and even voice recordings (if you have Cortana enabled). You have to wade through several screens to turn all that crap off, and there have been a couple occasions where I've noticed that after an update some of the settings were set to on again. Oh, and btw, a couple of the settings can only be switched off from an external website. And that's assuming the settings actually work as intended, there's some evidence suggesting that Windows 10 is sending some of the data anyways.

Also by default Windows 10 uses your internet connection to download copies of WIndows 10 onto other computers. Ya.

The user agreement has some... interesting features. Take privacy for example:

"We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to protect our customers or enforce the terms governing the use of the services."

Do you want to rely on Microsoft's "good faith"? I don't think previous versions of Windows had a catch-all like that.

Or how about intellectual property rights?

"When you share Your Content with other people, you expressly agree that anyone you’ve shared Your Content with may, for free and worldwide, use, save, record, reproduce, transmit, display, communicate … Your Content. If you do not want others to have that ability, do not use the Services to share Your Content.”

“you grant Microsoft a worldwide and royalty free intellectual property licence to use Your Content, for example, to make copies of, retain, transmit, reformat, distribute via communication tools and display Your Content on the Services. If you publish Your Content in areas of the Service where it is rendered available online publicly or without restrictions, Your Content may appear in demonstrations or materials that promote the Service.”

Again, not sure about the agreement in previous versions of Windows, though I haven't found anything yet to suggest they are as extensive as that.

Based on the user agreement I've been advised not to use Windows 10 as I would be at serious risk of breaching client privilege.

And let's talk about the updates. In Windows 10 all updates and upgrades are mandatory, and if you're stuck with 10 Home they are downloaded and installed the moment they become available. Updates in 10 Pro are also downloaded and installed immediately, though you can "defer" an upgrade for an unspecified amount of time. Don't want to be a guinea pig? Too bad. Have software / hardware that suddenly becomes unusable due to an update? Too bad - if you roll back the update which caused the problem, Win 10 will apparently keep downloading and installing the update over and over again. Don't want new features which bloat your computer / slow it down / spy on you? Too bad - again, everything is mandatory, whether you like it or not.

For most users I doubt this matters much, but I'm not a fan of it.

So for a TLDR:
1. Not only will we commit to the usual data mining like the stuff google does but we shall record all your passwords and everything you do for use by us as we see fit.
2. Your PC shall become our torrent node for when ever we see fit to use it as such.
3. Your private data, emails, naked photos etc. aren't. You put it on your PC and it's ours to have.
4. All your IP belongs to us now.
5. Anything we want you to download thau shalt download.

[SpottedKitty]

The other day I turned on the computer, and clicked on the W10 update thing by accident.

It comes up and tells me it's gone ahead and scheduled an automatic change-over to W10. What the fuck. I killed that as soon as I could, but I don't like that.

It's behaviour's changed, then. I clicked on it out of curiosity way back when it first appeared, and all it did then was nag me to allow the installer download and "take advantage of this great FREE!!! opportunity!"

BTW, I just went over this month's updates, and there's another "check your system for compatibility" one tucked away in there. I deselected and hid it, and ran the rest. Seems to be still OK... so far.

[Broomstick]

Can someone please explain to me what is the issue?

Your phone has the exact same "spyware".

No, it does not. MY phone does not connect to the internet, it's not a "smartphone".

So does your browser (if you use one of the big 3).

My browser doesn't riffle through my personal data files.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Microsoft has been a force for evil for over three decades. Why are people surprised now by the arrogant, shitty things it does?

[Elheru Aran]

So does your browser (if you use one of the big 3).

My browser doesn't riffle through my personal data files.

^ My big issue. Also the cloud storage thing. I don't much like the idea that Microsoft might have access to information that I generally consider privileged, such as, I don't know, my income tax returns. And while there are work-arounds such as going back to the Stone Age and keeping all my records in hardcopy, there are obvious drawbacks to that in this day and age.

Yes, they can pinky-swear all they like to not breach my data. Do I really believe them? Fuck no.

[Broomstick]

That end-user agreement is basically Microsoft attempting to lay claim to everything on your computer - every picture, every written document, every design, every IP of any sort you store or generate. It's bullshit, and a worse IP grab than China ever attempted.

[Zaune]

Um... what?

I'm sorry, Tribble, but could you show us where you found the parts of the EULA you quoted? Because even as a fully paid-up member of the Glorious Linux Master Race I find it a bit hard to believe Microsoft is that idiotically short-sighted. Can you imagine the shitstorm that would erupt if they actually tried to enforce it? There'd be literal riots!

[Wild Zontargs]

Um... what?

I'm sorry, Tribble, but could you show us where you found the parts of the EULA you quoted? Because even as a fully paid-up member of the Glorious Linux Master Race I find it a bit hard to believe Microsoft is that idiotically short-sighted. Can you imagine the shitstorm that would erupt if they actually tried to enforce it? There'd be literal riots!

That was from a version of the Privacy Statement and Services Agreement released last summer. There was a shitstorm, and MS has since reworded it.

[Zaune]

Oh, right. That's something then. Though I bet whatever "compromise" they came up with instead was what they wanted in the first place.

[Sinewmire]

Windows 10 installed itself on my PC last week, whilst I had nipped out to the shops. I am informed that my printer is not supported, and no new drivers will be forthcoming. Thanks Microsoft.

[Executor32]

If it worked fine on Windows 7/8, it should work fine on Windows 10 using the same drivers as before, you'll just have to reinstall them. They won't be "Windows 10 Certified" or whatever they call it, but that's essentially meaningless for anything other than video drivers.

[LastShadow]

if any spyware Win10 has is easy enough to disable the question is can I run things like STO or WoW if I upgrade as it's starting to become too much work to avoid the upgrade.

As for STO yes. I play on my Desktop which i upgraded of my own volition because i hated windows 8, i just didnt like the way it worked so i made the jump to windows 10, and i honestly really like windows 10, so much so that i upgrade my Laptop and Netbook, which both still had windows 7.

I am even playing the updated versions of Empire at war i bought on steam.

[Borgholio]

Windows 10 installed itself on my PC last week, whilst I had nipped out to the shops. I am informed that my printer is not supported, and no new drivers will be forthcoming. Thanks Microsoft.

Actually it's the printer manufacturer that is to blame. My Canon ip4600 printer is still quite a decent printer for what we paid, but Canon said they won't be coming out with a Windows 10 driver. I was able to successfully use the Windows 8 driver with minimal fuss so you might want to try that.

[DaveJB]

Microsoft has been a force for evil for over three decades. Why are people surprised now by the arrogant, shitty things it does?

Over the last decade or so there seems to have been an effort by people to portray Microsoft as some sort of benevolent monopoly (I'm guessing to make Apple look worse by comparison). And to be fair, MS's behaviour in recent years has for the most part been better than it was in the 90s and early 00s, assuming you consider Windows 8 to be an act of incompetence rather than malice. Now, I guess they've gotten nostalgic for the days when they were truly epic dicks.

[TheFeniX]

Over the last decade or so there seems to have been an effort by people to portray Microsoft as some sort of benevolent monopoly (I'm guessing to make Apple look worse by comparison). And to be fair, MS's behaviour in recent years has for the most part been better than it was in the 90s and early 00s, assuming you consider Windows 8 to be an act of incompetence rather than malice. Now, I guess they've gotten nostalgic for the days when they were truly epic dicks.

Windows 7 removed a lot of bad will with Microsoft because it worked out of the box on release with no major system or security flaws. That's like winning the lotto... twice, with MS.

They've been at this a while with Skype and the Xbone. Microsoft is looking for a single-platform to support now. Pretty sure the Xbone runs W10 and they have plans to integrate it with your PC so all your media is shared across it and they only have one set of software to support. Steamboxes may or may not have scared them into doing this now instead of just talking about it till 3035. MS has been pushing the Xbone even more into an Adbox than the 360: so they're aren't about to give that shit up now that they're talking about integration.

I don't know their endgame, but they don't make much on each Xbone sold and lost money on each 360 sold. They may think saturation is good and so any new Adbox they sell can just be a collection of cheap PC parts that they can make a few bucks on or break even and all the ad revenue combined with what they make selling your personal shit to the NSA (or whoever): they don't even need you buying games to make more money off the sale. They just need you using your box.

MS is just doing what every other site does. Problem is, you can choose not to use most online services, even google. But you cannot choose to avoid a Microsoft OS. Linux and OSX are not viable to the majority of PC illiterate people who need to just get some fucking work done. And since they are forcing ads on a consumer product (W7/W8) and will not take no for an answer, I'm hoping we get another class-action lawsuit here soon.

[Edi]

For those who wish to remain with Windows 7, there is a utility called the GWX Control Panel that keeps the nuisance out of your machines. Worth checking out at least, but the commenters at The Register at least had had quite some success with it.

[SpottedKitty]

For those who wish to remain with Windows 7, there is a utility called the GWX Control Panel that keeps the nuisance out of your machines. Worth checking out at least, but the commenters at The Register at least had had quite some success with it.

I'll consider that if M$ gets any more of a nuisance than it already is.

Note, though, that updates are regularly released because MS keeps plugging the holes that let the utility do its work. You can't just load it and forget it, the next time the regular monthly update rolls around it might not work any more.

Speaking of updates, has anyone else got a security update for .NET Framework that keeps coming back to be run again and again, and a bunch of vaguely-defined Optional updates for Win7 that suddenly turned up yesterday, after the regular update sequence had run?