The Computer Tutor

Microsoft’s newest tactic for force-feeding Windows 10


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With an announcement this past week, Microsoft made sure that millions of unsuspecting Windows 7 and Windows 8 users will be surprised to find their computer “upgraded” to Windows 10. You can stop it, though.

 

What Microsoft announced is that they are now going to re-categorize the Windows 10 “upgrade” as a Recommended update. (sorry, but I always have to put that term in quotation marks in reference to Windows 10 because “upgrade” usually implies that what you’re getting is an improvement).

Here’s what this means.

Microsoft sends out Windows Updates monthly. It’s on the second Tuesday of each month and has become known as Patch Tuesday. This month, it’s February 9.

When those updates are sent out, they are classified as either “Important” or “Optional”. An Important update would be something like a security hole that’s discovered in Windows that needs to be patched so that hackers cannot exploit it and cause problems. An Optional update would perhaps be a driver update for your mouse – might be good to have, but not critical.

 

But in addition, Microsoft designates some Windows Updates as “recommended”. These are the ones that THEY think you should get. And in your computer, in the Windows Update settings, there’s an option related to how your computer handles the “Recommended” updates. You have the option to either get the recommended updates the same way you get your Important updates (which for most people is automatically installed at 3 am the day after they come in), or you can choose NOT to get them automatically. Here’s what the option looks like. It’s just a simple check box:

 

Here’s the key point in this discussion: When you get your computer, that box is already checked by default. Therefore, unless you have unchecked that box, you are going to get whatever updates Microsoft categorizes as “Recommended”. And they just classified the Windows 10 “upgrade”as “Recommended” with this recent announcement.

So, lots of people – probably millions – will be getting Windows 10 this week, even though they really don’t want it.

Here are three things you can do to prevent Windows 10 from getting into your computer:

  1. In Control Panel, open Windows Update. On the left side, click on Change Settings. UNcheck the box that says “Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates” and click OK. (If you’re on my Managed Service Plan, ignore this step.)
  2. Get GWX Control Panel installed (it’s free) and make sure “Monitor Mode” is enabled. I did a full post about GWX Control Panel, which you can read here.
  3. I would also recommend getting on my Managed Service Plan (description and pricing here). This is the best security protection you can have for your computer, and it handles the Windows Updates for you, so you won’t get any unexpected ones. But even with that, I would still want GWX Control Panel installed.
  4. The more I hear about Windows 10, the more it really sounds like a computer virus.

    What are the characteristics of a virus?

    • Sneaks on to your computer against your will
    • Code written poorly, so it often doesn’t run properly
    • Spies on the user
    • Created to exploit the user for financial gain
    • Frustrates its victims
    • Difficult to remove once it gets in
    • Those things all describe any common computer virus, but they also describe Windows 10. Not something I would want on my computer.

       

      The post Microsoft’s newest tactic for force-feeding Windows 10 first appeared on The Computer Tutor.
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      The Computer TutorBy Scott Johnson

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