How to avoid being "upgraded to Win 10" against your will:

[NoelC]

If Microsoft wants people to install their updates, they need to document them - MORE thoroughly than ever before.  Not less.

 

-Noel

[TELVM]

How Microsoft copied malware techniques to make Get Windows 10 the world's PC pest

Quote

"... Much of the attention in the tech press on combatting GWX has been has focused on eliminating the work of one patch, KB3035583, which constantly reappears on users' PCs, even after removal. However, an investigation shows that ‘583 is a symptom, rather than the cause, of recurring GWX infestations.

The ‘583 patch is most commonly reinstalled by another patch, KB2952664. Once ‘664 is on a system, '583 will be requested for download and installation. Getting rid of, and thereby controlling, '664 could be the key to controlling the sophisticated "Get Windows 10" nagware network.

"Current patches do not fully address this situation and I do not believe it ever will, as the author of the GWX patch only addresses the GWX executable plus the '583 update,” writes a reader who conducted a detailed investigation for us.

Studying the behaviour of the ‘664 patch explains why controlling GWX is so difficult. The ‘664 patch constantly “mutates” – it is frequently revised to contain a new payload. Microsoft has not documented its behaviour, and has over the years removed explanations of what KB patches actually do ..."

[epic]

These numskuls at M$ are at it again?! Doesn't surprise me when the company is full of dimwitted neanderthals. This crap occurred the day Windows 10 rolled out, and most everyone I know who hadn't wanted Windows 10 had to roll back to their previous version of Windows 7/8, which caused enormous problems.

As a future note to others take a look and read about the AEGIS-Voat script and apply it. The script prohibits Microsoft the ability to upgrade Windows 7/8 to Windows 10 and blocks some known privacy invasive KB patches. M$ reserves absolutely zero right for the crap they are forcing upon their customers. Absolutely NONE. Furthermore, people need to wake up (needing a swift kick in the head) and need to consult with their local state representatives and those in other countries need to contact their representatives.

Edited March 25, 2016 by epic

[Radish]

Quote

Furthermore, people need to wake up (needing a swift kick in the head) and need to consult with their local state representatives and those in other countries need to contact their representatives.

I don't think people need a kick in the head - isn't that what Microsoft are doing? For the rest of your response to this it strikes me as short-sighted if done in isolation to other acts. By all means complain to political representatives and then they will, in league with Microsoft, re-arrange the deck-chairs a little to make people happier while still retaining the capability to screw people over (I'm sure you know how this works).

The other way to react is for people to take control of themselves and of their computers and just abandon Microsoft for Linux. If huge numbers of people did this it would a much more effective way of sending a message to Microsoft and other software vendors that people will not take this lying down. So instead of letting Microsoft kick you in the head why don't you kick Microsoft in the head - it's the only thing they will understand.

Edited March 25, 2016 by Radish

[Tripredacus]

I don't think switching from Windows to Linux makes any sort of difference to Microsoft. They do not make any money off existing installations because those licenses have already been purchased. It only took a couple of years of no one buying (or building) apps for the mobile app store for Microsoft to ditch or rethink their phone strategy. I suspect Windows 10 will follow the same path eventually.

[winxpi]

On ‎11‎.‎03‎.‎2016 at 4:30 AM, winxpi said:

I must admit Windows 9x or XP are not my main OSes anymore. Use 7 and 8.1 at the moment very often, still having one windows 9x system around but offcourse we are speaking about the Windows 10 upgrading issue here. Just saying cause I've not been around a while.

And I just found out someting helpfull (don't know if you people read about it before).

Atleast it helps when you installed some of the IE Updates. Like I had on a Windows 7 client when I installed a cumulative Update for IE.

So the second thing is the issue that you get nagging "Upgrade to Windows 10" boxes on outlook.com (former hotmail).

I'll send you the code I used (but you should modify it regarding the IE browser version you are using).

Don't know if the "Windows Registry Editior Version 5.00 part still counts for Win8. But can say its been 5.00 since Windows 2000. Don't think its been changed much when you consider Windows 7 is actually 6.1 and 8 actually 6.2.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.\User Agent]@="Mozilla/5.0""Compatible"="compatible""Platform"="Windows NT 10.0""Version"="MSIE 11.0"

Well and the only thing it does is stopping to show you the blue box on outlook page after sign out in Internet Explorer.

Hope this may help somebody.

Maybe I should point out, that this Change of referrer has atleast one downside.

For me: YouTube and other pages had a fallback using html5 instead of Adobe Flash Version I installed. Found out that after removing the additional keys that I mentioned above this issues stops and Adobe Flash is used again.

So backup your "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent" entries before you do any changes or create two .reg files for both scenarios as I did if you want to do this workaround (althought it only Counts for Messages you get in your browser).

 If you need to revert like me add this changes now into a new .reg file  and call if "default.reg" and then run it with administrative privileges.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent]
"Compatible"=-
"Platform"=-
"Version"=-

The reg-file basically removes the 3 new entries from above. Additionally you can also create two .reg files. One you may call "Referrer10.reg"(or whatever you like) and the other one "Default.reg"(to restore the Default Settings on referrer).

If you aren't sure if it worked you can still run regedit.exe with administrative privileges (CTRL+R for Windows 8 or use the Metro menu and type "regedit" and just right-click the administrative privileges). For 7 it would be STart=>Run "regedit" then SHIFT+ENTER and it will be start with administrative privileges.

If you cant get regedit running with administrative privileges just Google "Run as Administrator" you will find what you Need to know.

However if you started regedit successfully with administrative privileges you can look up HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent

and check if the keys are removed or still in place and remove "Compatible", "Platform" and "Version" by Hand (right-click delete).

So after doing the Research the plus-side is: Most Web sites relying on referrerer will Thing you are using Windows 10 and also Msn page is one of them.

Downside is also Flash-Content or the whole Flash Player itself may rely on the referrer Information and then not run at all. So I can't say this is a permanent solution rather a work-around.

Edited March 28, 2016 by winxpi

[JorgeA]

Yesterday, the infamous KB2952664 popped up yet again in Windows Update on my Win7 systems.

What's this now, the twelfth time Microsoft has pushed this "update" out to the public?

--JorgeA

[dencorso]

2 minutes ago, JorgeA said:

Yesterday, the infamous KB2952664 popped up yet again in Windows Update on my Win7 systems.

What's this now, the twelfth time Microsoft has pushed this "update" out to the public?

It never ends, now, does it?

[JorgeA]

Let's put a lighter tone on this coversation:

3 minutes ago, dencorso said:

It never ends, now, does it?

It will end when we install Vista or XP over our Win7/8 systems! 

--JorgeA

[OneSerendipity]

Sure it will, haha 

In my 7 machines (physical or virtual), I just get all updates until March 2015, remove all suspicious ones and then install. Then I can disable Windows Update completely, as MS doesn't provide good enough support for me now anyways. Updates do more harm than good now, and this hasn't been more true with another OS than 7 and 8.1.

[greenhillmaniac]

On 09/04/2016 at 1:24 AM, JorgeA said:

It will end when we install Vista or XP over our Win7/8 systems! 

If only newer hardware would support those OSs

[JorgeA]

On Sunday, April 10, 2016 at 11:41 AM, greenhillmaniac said:

If only newer hardware would support those OSs

I know that it's very hard nowadays to find a new machine where you can install Windows 98. Are Vista and XP also affected now?

--JorgeA

[greenhillmaniac]

Just now, JorgeA said:

Are Vista and XP also affected now?

Well... AMD stopped supporting Vista in 2013 and XP in 2014, Intel doesn't have proper support for Vista since Ivy Bridge, and I do believe recent chipsets don't even have XP drivers (although I'm not 100% sure).

Now its Windows 7 and up (atleast for me... It's modern HW vs older OSs now).

[OneSerendipity]

I use an Ivy Bridge laptop at home, and yeah, even the only existing HD 4000 driver for Vista is not that good as it could be. Ivy is a very troubled platform for Vista. Ivy did support XP though, and the 7 series chipset drivers work in both it and Vista as well. Don't expect anything from USB 3.0 though; only for 7 and above.

I'm not sure if Haswell does anything for this, though the most compatible boards would be Z97/X99 ones, specifically from brands like MSI, ASRock, Asus... They worked with Windows 2000 in here (although modded drivers of course), how wouldn't they work with Vista?

The last platform officially supporting Vista completely was Sandy Bridge, and it remains the most stable one in my opinion. Ivy hasn't been a good platform for me, it was actually a step back. I want to use Vista as much as I can before it completely dies, because 7 has its drawbacks as well, though not as many as 8 and above do.

[JorgeA]

4 hours ago, greenhillmaniac said:

Well... AMD stopped supporting Vista in 2013 and XP in 2014, Intel doesn't have proper support for Vista since Ivy Bridge, and I do believe recent chipsets don't even have XP drivers (although I'm not 100% sure).

Now its Windows 7 and up (atleast for me... It's modern HW vs older OSs now).

Huh, so when Intel and Microsoft announced that they would stop supporting Windows 7 on Skylake next April, it was not entirely unprecedented.

I was going to write that it was not unprecedented "except for" the fact that support was ending before Win7 went EOS, but even that doesn't seem to be true: Vista doesn't go EOS until next year, and yet AMD stopped supporting it three years ago. So this sort of thing has already happened? 

Bummer.