Microsoft Is About To Start Automatically Downloading Windows 10 Onto PCs

BI ^ | 2-3-2016 | Max Slater-Robins

[blam]

Max Slater-Robins
January 3, 2016

Microsoft has made Windows 10, the newest version of the operating system, a "recommended update," meaning that it will automatically download onto PCs, according to The Verge.

PCs that are are running Windows 7 or 8.1, the two versions that preceded 10, will download the newest version of the operating system automatically, unless the user opts out of the update.

Microsoft announced in October last year that Windows 10 would download automatically onto PCs, and has now started the process.

Anyone who has a metered internet connection, with a data limit, will have to switch off the automatic update manually, as it will use up around six gigabytes of storage.

(snip)

[Envisioning]

Thanks!

Windows 10 (((ping))) in case you have not done this already...

[George from New England]

Still using XP here too. Stuck on firefox 3.6 and won’t move forward.

Every browser today want to chew on memory and waste.

I still survive fine on 1 gig memory.
One needs to have and use - the third party tool — windows process explorer
usually once a day i restart firefox with that tool. I can stop and restart the main window explorer with that too
I maybe reboot the box once a month if that
sometimes i use: firefox about:config and change the agent parameter to fake a website into working for me
No reason to change — if it ain’t broke ...

private freep me if anyone wants to know more

[Mears]

bfl

[goodnesswins]

Bfl...thx

[newgeezer]

I've refused to "upgrade" my Windows 7 laptop so far, mainly because f'n Microsoft REMOVED Windows DVD Maker. I guess they figure no one should want to burn 480p resolution video anymore. As if all (great-)grandparents should by now have ditched their DVD players in favor of Surface tablets, smart TVs, 100 mbps Internet and YouTube?

But the real head scratcher: Windows 10 also lacks the ability to even play DVDs. (WTF?!)

[Ancesthntr]

Bookmarked - Thanks a million to everyone who contributed here.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

For me...a good idea. For you? Perhaps. If you do not need Windows for ANYTHING, you can switch to Linux easily. It will give you internet, access to email, sound and video, etc.

If you have 3rd party programs that you use...you could set up things the way I have...one Windows and one Linux. It's a pretty big project and you need room for an additional PC. Total cost would be about $150 for the PC and the switching system.

But, you should be OK with Windows 7 as far as security concerns. We'll tawk.

[GailA]

We have Professional Win 7.1, many of my bought and registered programs will cease to function, these are not cheap programs to replace. Nor do I want more spyware and shareware crap. Google does enough of that to be an irritant. I don’t need to be remind some one posted to my FB or has a Birthday.

My laptop is a split Professional Win 7.1 and XP as the XP runs a older version of a CAD program my husband uses.

[Moltke]

Cool! Thanks!

[discostu]

DVD maker stinks. There’s dozens of free apps for doing that much better. Same with playing DVDs, any halfway decent media player does that better than the stuff MS bundled.

People complain about the bloat in Windows, then they complain when the bloat gets removed.

[aimhigh]

Is it an automatic download/install or just a download?

Just a download, with pop ups to get you to submit. You will be assimilated.

[newgeezer]

People complain about the bloat in Windows, then they complain when the bloat gets removed.

Well, guess what? It ain't bloat if you're using it, FRiend.

[discostu]

Try Nero for your burns. And just about anything to play, I’m fond of Media Monkey though it’s more geared towards navigating your MP3 folder it does DVDs fine. both are free, and both are drastically more useful than anything MS has ever bundled.

[JimRed]

...had nothing but problems since then....the "upgrade", so far, has caused the following:

messed up her wireless card drivers....had to uninstall and reinstall. (intermittent network connectivity)

messed with her power settings....constant error messages stating that her 65w power cord is not adequate, although it is the same one she has been using since the PC was new, with no issues

battery will not charge, as a result. battery was replaced 6 months ago. removed battery, still get power error messages

constantly kicking her out of programs.. none of this was in evidence before the "upgrade"

So long story short, A non-tech savvy person like myself (how do you install/reinstall a driver? How do you even know you need to?) can expect his PC to become next to useless unless he pays a geek? I use it for work and don't want to be put out of business!

[r_barton]

ImgBurn is a really good free DVD burner. Just make sure to not accept the default install and check no to other crapware it tries to install.

[InfraRed]

Rather than have a second PC to run Windows, I have a Win7 virtual machine running on my Linux workstation. There are several benefits to the VM approach.

I only have to maintain and upgrade one workstation. Since Windows only sees the virtual hardware, I can upgrade my physical hardware without having to get Microsoft's permission.

By utilizing a virtual network connection between the Linux host and the Windows VM, they can share network resources yet the Windows VM is completely isolated from my physical LAN. Windows has no ability to phone home for "upgrades", and is not exposed to remote attacks.

I haven't really needed Windows for much during the past decade, but having the VM available has proven useful on occasion. The performance of the Win7 VM is not bad at all, and most people would never know that it's not running on physical hardware.

I haven't attempted to run WINE in years, so I'm sure it has improved greatly. However, success with Windows apps is almost certainly going to be more likely when running them on a real Windows OS -- even if that OS is running on virtual hardware. I guess WINE will support newer Windows apps in the future, as my Win7 VM will eventually become obsolete, but I expect to be finished with Windows entirely by then.

As an added bonus, once you have the virtual host running, it is painless to install and test other operating systems. I have 32-bit and 64-bit versions of several Linux distros running, as well as BSD and Win7. In some cases, I have even been able to download pre-configured VM images which required no installation -- simply download the image and boot it up in a window.

[ex91B10]

[zeugma]

Make sure to put the “KB” in front or the search function will not find these updates if you wish to uninstall.

Thanks for that note. Sometimes I'm amazed at how primitive Microsoft can be.

[Bob434]

just a question- I wave windows 7 as my main os- IF I run Linux in VM, would the windows os still be accessing internet also when I use the VM to access the net? And would it be possible to set the VM to always be the one that starts so that windows doesn’t automatically connect to net when starting the computer?

I don’t want to go through the hassle of wiping windows off, installing Linux, and reinstalling windows in a VM because I have many many many tweaks and customizations in windows so that it now operates and looks the way I want it to- I’d have to redo all of those and there are many dozens of them

I also have another issue where I run rollbackRX and it only runs on windows- it’s an invaluable tool I do not want to be without as it has saved my computer many times from disaster (it’s basically system restore, only sys-restore on steroids)

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Yeah...I thought of that and actually tried it once. But I have a LOT of 3rd party apps and programs on my Windows box that I’d have to re-install on the VM and that would take a lot of hours...some I don’t have disks for anymore. When I decide it’s not worth having the XP box, I may do a VM on my Linux box just for kicks.