'I thought my daughter clicked on ransomware – it was the d@mn Windows 10 installer' (tales of woe)

The Register ^ | May 6, 2016 | Chris Williams

[dayglored]

At the end of April, Microsoft's Windows 10 nagware interrupted a live TV weather broadcast to urge meteorologist Metinka Slater to upgrade her computer.

A week later, while playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive to 130,000 spectators on Twitch.tv, Erik Flom was blasted out of his match by the Windows 10 installer. This was even after he spent a few frantic minutes trying to delay the upgrade until after his game had ended. The fun starts about nine minutes into this recording of the live stream. (expletive deleted) Windows 10!" was Flom's response.

But it's not just TV presenters and video-game celebrities getting caught out by Windows 10's enthusiasm to plonk itself down on PCs. Plenty of Register readers, who have also had their work and home computers hijacked out of nowhere by the software, have been in touch to share their stories.

Here's a collection of the best tales we've heard so far:

...

Arizona-based Justin's plight:

I let my six-year-old play Minecraft on my gaming rig. She comes down an hour or so later, and tells me the computer screen says something about my files still being there. I think: "Oh crap! Did she click some type of ransomware link!?!"

I get up there and see I now have Windows 10. She clicked the d@mn pop-up.

...

[Bogie]

Yeah! A few years ago I went down to Best Buy to get a new laptop. The only thing they had was laptops with Windows 8. I bought one and was returning it the following day because it was totally useless to me with Windows 8. Took a loss too.

I called my son, who is one of the Silicon Valley wiz-kids, and he told me that Windows 8 was a big mistake for Microsoft. They don't want to talk about it but they had to make some changes real quick.

Since then I managed to get a laptop that has Windows 7. I've been happy with that for a while, but, just a few nights ago I had Windows 10 forced on me. I hate that and was thinking about a lawsuit also but the Windows 10 is not the nightmare that Windows 8 was, and I think I can live with it.

Still, they should not be allowed to superimpose on people.

[tacticalogic]

Linux: Free, fast, much more secure than MS-anything,

Any modern Windows OS is at least as secure as Linux. The vulnerability is between the chair and the keyboard.

[Bogie]

Yeah, with the election coming it’s real important.

[MinuteGal]

I ignored the endless months of pop-ups...until, like a thief in the night, the upgrade took place last week while I slept. No problems so far, except unusual slowness in everything. Hope it straightens itself out.

Sure don't miss those pop-ups.

Leni

[woodenickel]

You have 30 days to revert back to your old operating system. Its in the start menu under settings/updates & security

[piytar]

I have so far successfully fended off the malware called Windows 10. It hasn’t been easy...

[Bogie]

At first I tried that, but, it refused to work. I was being forced to accept. Still, seems to be working OK.

[Mr. M.J.B.]

""And just where the bloody hell ELSE should they be, Microsoft?!?!?"

That's easily answered: Wherever MS tells you.

More specifically, in the MS cloud. That's why they provide everyone with GIGABYTES of highly available, free, cloud storage.

Solution:

1. Copy user data to thumb drive.
2. Download boot and wipe disk utility & Linux.
3. Wipe disk partition (including MS hidden partition(s) metadata.
4. Install Linux.

Problem solved: COST ZERO, time spent < 1 hour.

[dayglored]

>> Linux: Free, fast, much more secure than MS-anything,

> Any modern Windows OS is at least as secure as Linux. The vulnerability is between the chair and the keyboard.

I say this as a card carrying Linux fan: tacticalogic is correct, on both counts. Microsoft did their homework, and as of Windows 7, security was on a par with Linux. OS X likewise, same ballpark. Raw BSD Unix is still the best, IMO, but it's not friendly the way the others are.

Security at the individual workstation is no longer an issue of the OS. It's all about the user.

[dayglored]

> I immediately updated all of our computers (over a dozen) to Windows 10 without any hesitancy, difficulties, OR regrets. All work fine—work, personal, and even the kid’s computers.

Glad to hear it!

Most folks are finding that to be true. Things are different, yes, and some things are moved around, yes, but overall, Windows 10 is quite usable for the vast majority of consumer users.

Business users have more difficulty adjusting, especially if they have custom applications that run on Windows and make assumptions about the OS.

[Mr. M.J.B.]

Nonsense. Fundamental architectural differences exist. Linux at the lowest levels (and above) is far superior by design.

Any CS 1XX student knows this.

It isn't debatable. It's fact.

[zeestephen]

I can only comment on my own experience.

The Windows 10 upgrade pop-up has appeared in various forms about twice a week for the last six months.

Uh, so what?

I just click the X, the pop-up disappears, and I never think about it until it shows up again.

[Ellendra]

Check the link I posted at #6 ^^

[Bogie]

Yeah, I_ had Linux for a while and liked it. I was thinking about going back to it when Microsoft screwed me, but, Windows 10 is not as bad as I thought it would be. So, I guess I'll stay.

Nice to know that there is another choice, however.

[AFreeBird]

The “telemetry” they send back to MS is extensive from what I hear. And it doesn’t truly stop when you supposedly lock it down.

[Edward.Fish]

You could use this. It's a win 7 pro (64-bit) ISO, works excellently from a 4GB thumb-drive; it takes less than 2GB, I'm using the remaining space to put the installers for programs I use; making it a really nice backup option. [The ISO is a backup/mirror from when Microsoft made the ISOs publicly downloadable.]

[Windflier]

I still haven’t melded with the Borg. I’m holding out at the rebel base for as long as I can.

Freedom!!

[Traveler59]

Is there an easy way to block these reminders from Microsoft?

Try this from www.zdnet.com

Worked for me.

[Mr. M.J.B.]

Thanks. Sounds like a neat setup!

I rarely use Windows anymore. Win7 (OEM, no upgrade devilware) was my last version.

The most difficult (any unexpected) aspect of leaving Windows was having to tell a couple dozen family & friends that I was through with Windows for good - and thus could no longer help them.

[Edward.Fish]

>>> Linux: Free, fast, much more secure than MS-anything,

>> Any modern Windows OS is at least as secure as Linux. The vulnerability is between the chair and the keyboard.

> I say this as a card carrying Linux fan: tacticalogic is correct, on both counts. Microsoft did their homework, and as of Windows 7, security was on a par with Linux. OS X likewise, same ballpark. Raw BSD Unix is still the best, IMO, but it's not friendly the way the others are.

> Security at the individual workstation is no longer an issue of the OS. It's all about the user.

I hesitate to agree with that; there's a lot of buggy things that are foundational, or rather foundational things that are buggy. DNS is an example, the Linux DNS BIND has had a lot of vulnerabilities found, compared and contrasted with Ironsides DNS, the latter is formally proven not to have remote-execution vulnerabilities, or single-packet DoS vulnerabilities, or data-flow errors... all whil actually being faster than BIND. — Even more impressive is the Verve OS, which is safe to the last instruction.

So, it's not quite "just the user".
Also, given the plans to port VMS to x86_64, I wonder how its security model (and defaults) would stack up to Windows/Linux/OSX.