Official: Microsoft's 'Get Windows 10' nagware to vanish from PCs in July (that's the good news...)

The Register ^ | May 6, 2016 | Chris Williams

[dayglored]

[Disclaimer: This article uses a lot of pejoratives about Win10. Don't bother taking that bait -- the important things are that a) the nagware is going away, and b) support for non-Win10 has horizons that bear paying attention to when planning for the future.]

Microsoft's "Get Windows 10" nagware will be killed off in July, the tech giant has told us.

The software has been worming its way into Windows PCs via Windows Update since last year using aggressive malware-like techniques and frequent pop-up reminders.

It quietly downloads and installs Windows 10 automatically for you, and then cheerfully offers to switch your PC over to the new operating system for free, interrupting TV broadcasts, businesses and home users in the process.

Now, kinda like the alien invaders in War of the Worlds suddenly ceased their attacks and sloped off into the obsidian oblivion, Get Windows 10 is going to stop offering its upgrade and vanish into the night, we're told.

Not because its caught some kind of bug or that some people were being driven round the bend by the pushy GWX installer – rather the disappearing act will coincide with Microsoft ending its offer of free upgrades to Windows 10 on July 29.

A spokesperson for the software giant told us on Friday:

Details are still being finalized, but on July 29th the Get Windows 10 app that facilitates the easy upgrade to Windows 10 will be disabled and eventually removed from PCs worldwide. Just as it took time to ramp up and roll out the Get Windows 10 app, it will take time to ramp it down.

After that date, you'll have to sort yourself out, or breath a sigh of relief in the ensuing silence if you're holding out on Windows Vista, 7 or 8.

Crucially, Microsoft will continue to push out security fixes for Windows Vista until April 11, 2017; Windows 7 until January 14, 2020; and January 10, 2023 for Windows 8 – unless you cut a special deal with Redmond for longer support. Without those fixes, you'll be better off unplugging your machine for good.

[Vinnie]

No typo. That’s what this machine has on it. May try upgrade to Win 7.
This machine will be used by my wife to play games with her sister who is 500 miles away. These games are played while I watch NASCAR or NFL. (g)

Not connected to the internet, just talk phone to phone . They can easily spend 3-4 hours.

Anyway the Dell 3200 she is on now has RamBus memory and is very expensive to upgrade.
I can get this ASUS machine w/ 4 g ram cheaper than buying ram for her ‘puter. And a much faster machine.

[matthew fuller]

program to prohibit MS Win 10 (or any other MS Updates) without your permission

http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/

THEES ONE-
GWX Control Panel

FUMS

[dayglored]

> No typo. That’s what this machine has on it. May try upgrade to Win 7.

Oh okay :-)

Chances are pretty good that you can install Win7 on it. I do not recommend an "in-place" upgrade from Vista unless you have no other choice -- you're better off doing a fresh install of Win7. Of course you can use the old Vista key to validate that you only need an "upgrade" version of Win7 (less expensive). But since Microsoft is no longer selling Win7 you'll need to find a copy from a third party reseller. They're pretty common, just pick one that's reputable.

OTOH, if it REALLY is not going to be connected to the internet AT ALL for any reason, and used ONLY for playing a game, then it's probably easier to leave it at Vista, since you won't be taking advantage of the much better features and security of Win7 anyway.