Posted on 01/07/2016 10:08:43 PM PST by dayglored
Official from the Redmond horse's mouth
If you're using a PC running Windows 7 or 8 you may be getting a little sick of endless popup screens telling you to upgrade to version 10, and worried about inadvertently installing the upgrade as part of a security update.
Microsoft will start pushing out the upgrade as a recommended, virtually mandatory, update very soon (it's right now only an optional download). Some people are tempted to turn off Windows Update completely to avoid getting the new operating system - don't. It'll leave your computer vulnerable to attack as you'll no longer get security patches.
It's actually rather easy to turn off the Windows 10 upgrade function without losing vital regular software updates. Microsoft even has an official document explaining how to do it.
A Redmond spokesperson confirmed that support page is still valid - its instructions still work even though it was quietly published a few months ago. It involves digging into the Registry to disable the Windows 10 upgrade path, but it's not impossible nor particularly scary for a Register reader.
Make sure you follow all the steps, but essentially you have to:
Open the Registry Editor (search for regedit in the Start Menu and run it).For corporate users, there's nothing to worry about - the Win10 upgrade is going to be blocked for users of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 Enterprise editions, and for any build joined to a domain or relying on Microsoft Device Manager. Redmond isn't dumb; if the entire office suddenly tried to download and install that much data, the screams would be heard all the way to Seattle.
Set DisableOSUpgrade to 1 in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
Set ReservationsAllowed to 0 in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\OSUpgrade
If you want to set up a policy not to download the update, Microsoft has made software updates available for download that will do this automatically for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 that are here, and for Windows 8 and above, as well as Server 2012 R2 here.
In any case, this is going to be a non-issue in a few months. Microsoft is only offering Windows 10 as a free upgrade until July. After that, people will have to pay if they want Redmond's latest operating system, and hopefully the nagging will stop then - but don't bet on it.
No security problems either, so keeping MS out of my computer seems to be a good thing.
Thanks for this post, dayglored.
If rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.
Ten is a good operating system.
.
This is definitely a keeper.
I just bought some extra win 7 licenses.
I believe it will get there.
At present, it's got some show-stopping incompatibilities with my existing network resources, so I can't deploy it to my users yet. And there is that nagging uncertainty about all the private "telemetry", since we do confidential work for our clients. But it'll get there.
In the meantime, nothing wrong with posting information for the folks who want to run 7 and 8.1 in peace.
10 is a deep snoop system.
None of this is necessary. The pop-up that keeps prompting you to upgrade gets installed by update KB3035583. Just uninstall and disable that particular update and you won’t be pestered to upgrade again.
Ok, I’ve got Win 10 on my pc at work and at home. Have had similar problems on both machines. I have an IT guy at work to work out the bugs....... he’s gone bald pulling his hair and hasn’t solved all bugs. At home I finally called MS tech support in India. She remotely tried to solve my problems and got frustrated..... then went to google! Not long after she fixed my problems. Thought that was real funny.
Anyway, Win 10 started out pretty good, but showing bugs now.
for later
Thanks for this.
Depends on what you're running, and what you're running it on. Some folks don't get bothered at all, others get hounded. The fixes for each may differ.
I'm glad it was simple for you. :-)
I have been thinking of upgrading but am worried I will lose the coffee cup holder function.
Win10 is actually a poor OS. It left out a lot of usability that Win7 has built into it. For example, it doesn’t allow Virtual XP to run.
Great. I just checked Windows Update, and Win10 update is still sitting there.
Guess I’ll download the manual to get it off my computer.
Otherwise .. what’s going to happen. When it’s no longer a free upgrade, will the update disappear ..??? Or what ..??
Hell, no! I expect the pressure to go UP, not down. When it's no longer free, they'll be making money from license key sales!
You think it's bad now? HA!
I'm pretty sure you're serious (not being sarcastic), so let me play straight for you... Of COURSE they dropped Virtual XP support in 10. The last thing in the world they want is any more instances of XP running anywhere.
No worries! A USB flash drive, sticking out of the front USB slot, is just big enough to hold two NO-DOZ tablets.
Faster than coffee...
I did an uninstall of update KB3035583. Then I hid the update so auto update would not install it again. No more nagging.
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