Windows 10: What You Need to Know - Page 53

aanker · 05-30-16, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Steve, Sky, what do you know about GWX Control Panel ?
http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/201...ly-remove.html

A PC guru suggested this would prevent Windows 10 from initiating stealth upgrade downloads. I will look into it tomorrow when I get home.

I apologize if this was discussed earlier in this thread, I am only extremely limited internet access today and cannot go look.

It will not permit Win 10 Updates to the operating system or the nag screen updates to be installed on a Win 7 or Win 8.1 computer if it is set up correctly and in monitor mode. I use it to prevent being updated to Win 10.

I also look at the KB numbers and uncheck any that are on 'the list' of KB numbers that have anything to do with Win 10 on the Microsoft Update site although according to his description below it may be unnecessary for me to do that. I'm using version 1.7.3.1.

Quote:

GWX Control Panel is the easiest way for users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 to protect their computers from Windows 10. With GWX Control Panel you can: Remove the "Get Windows 10" icon that appears in your notification area, prevent your Windows Update control panel from upgrading your computer to Windows 10, prevent your computer from secretly downloading Windows 10 installation files, detect and remove the hidden Windows 10 installation files if they're already on your PC, optionally monitor your computer for unwanted Windows 10-related settings and files- and beginning with version 1.7 you can now easily delete some hard-to-remove program files that are known to cause Windows 10 upgrades and annoyances.

Onkel Neal · 05-30-16, 09:22 PM

This seems to stop Windows updates?

HunterICX · 05-31-16, 03:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

This seems to stop Windows updates?

Short answer: No.

GWX (Get Windows 10) is useless post upgrade.
What I can see within the configuration of my Win 10 PC at work is that you can't seem to turn off the Auto-Updates like you could under Windows 7 for example by telling ''Windows Update'' to never check and/or download updates automatically.
In Win10 you only get 2 options: Auto and Notify when to reboot (which both means that Windows will update on it's own whether you like it or not)

however after a quick google there's a solution for 'metered' connections: http://www.howtogeek.com/224471/how-...Speed=noscript

Skybird · 05-31-16, 06:14 AM

Neal,

to my best knowledge GWX is to prevent users of W7 and W8 from getting W10 nagware and installation files - or any updates at all. It can ban on these systems the installation or looking-for any updates at all. This was necessary, since Microsoft bypassed the onboard update settings of users that thought they were safe if they switch off auto-updates or even recommended updates, and do it manually after scanning manually the available KB files for numbers they do not want. Microsoft pushed through not only the GWX nagware, but made it incredibly difficult to delete it again, and it re-released critical files time and again (up to two dozen times...) under different version numbers to trick out and bypass blacklists in scanners that were standing guard against these updates. Microsoft even went that far to have tens - if not hundreds, nobody counted them for sure - of thousands of systems auto-updating to W10 although the owners of said systems had set their settings such that right this should have been impossible, at lest should have been formally forbidden. But Microsoft does not take a No for an answer anymore. They now have changed the rules of communication and take it as permission to install if people do close nagware windows by clicking on the X at the right top corner - in the past twenty years this would have cancelled the action, now all of a sudden Microsoft says it confirms the action. Earlier, they have upgraded nagware and W10 installation updates from "optional" to "recommended", I may be wriong, but I think Woody said somwhere one of these files - junkware, mind you - even rate as essential securit yupdate now, but I could be wrong here.

All this interests users of W7 and W8 only, who do not want to downgrade to Windows 10 and want to maintain even a minimum of control over their systems, and a minimum of privacy, a hilariously small amount of privacy already - and for them, GWX Control, Panel was made.

You already have W10 installed.

In case nobody told you: W10 users can only delay, but cannot prevent auto-updating of their systems, no matter whether they want it or not. All that faulty KB stuff, that erratic updates, the sniffware you do not want and the beta-testing program you do not want to participate in - you sooner or later will be subscribed by MS to accept all that nevertheless, for you are no longert ruler in your own house.

The specific way to delay it I read somewhere in Woody'S blog, but since I never installed W10, I do not care for these W10-specifics that much and thus did not pay much attention on how to do it. Maybe there are some tricks possible with metered connections, but it is up to others to explain that, if that is possible, I cannot.

You are already in the trap - you have W10. You do not need a map to avoid this trap. You need a shovel to dig yourself out.

And no, I would not rely on GWX to prevent my Windows 10 installation getting any updates anymore. That is not what the tool was made for, its not for W10 users, but users of W7 and W8. Its already in the name : GWX stands for "Get Windows 10".

Consider to dramatically reduce your dependency on and need for Microsoft. Its the only really reasonable option. And they - will not change for the better, they are running their new business policy and in that policy private end users play a significantly unimportant role. Private users simply are not the market they aim at anymore.So bury the past and let it rest there.

Skybird · 05-31-16, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HunterICX

That should do the trick.
Have the same setting selected in Win 7's ''Windows Update'' and haven't seen a single update been downloaded for over a year now.

Does not compare. You are on W7, Neal is on W10 already.

HunterICX · 05-31-16, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

Does not compare. You are on W7, Neal is on W10 already.

I spotted my mistake and editted my post, was busy at work so gave it a quick glance not spotting it was GWX.

aanker · 05-31-16, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HunterICX

however after a quick google there's a solution for 'metered' connections: http://www.howtogeek.com/224471/how-...Speed=noscript

Yes, I just learned about the metered connection trick and read that many are using it now. For now, this looks like the answer.

Fubar2Niner · 05-31-16, 12:50 PM

@Sky, RRobbins and others in the know.

Is it now no longer possible for Neal to roll back to his previous OS ? I ask because I experimented with W10 ( admittedly for just a couple of hours ), I then rolled back to 7

Just a thought.

Best regards.

Fubar2Niner

aanker · 05-31-16, 02:05 PM

Officially there was a one month roll back period but there is a trick to roll back after that.

It involves 'reformatting' the hard drive to restore the original computer operating system and configuration it was in when it was purchased using the Recovery feature.

Edit:

How to Uninstall Delete Windows 10 after 30 days and rollback to Windows 8 or 7

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[LIVE] How To Downgrade If Windows 10 Doesn't Give You The Option

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://www.infoworld.com/article/303...0-upgrade.html

Skybird · 05-31-16, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fubar2Niner

@Sky, RRobbins and others in the know.

Is it now no longer possible for Neal to roll back to his previous OS ? I ask because I experimented with W10 ( admittedly for just a couple of hours ), I then rolled back to 7

Just a thought.

Best regards.

Fubar2Niner

I really do not know for sure. These tools existed since longer time in Windows versions, but I found them sometimes working as advertised, but failing as often, too. So I do not trust them especially when they are now linked to W10. Backups and image cloning and back-copying I always do with external tools, therefore. My tool still is is Acronis 2011.

Then, it is against Microsoft's intentions to allow people just switching back easily to W7, withoit pay, without any kind of hook, without any kind of backfire. Another reason not to trust into back-rolling the Microsoft-way. I do not put my trust in that they really do just that, nothing more. Not after their many attacks and charges over the past 12 months. Trust is gone. Forever, completely. Will never come back - promised.

And if Neal bought his laptop new with W10 preinstalled, I again see a problem there.

Install new. one partition with W7 that does not get updated at all, not beyond SP1 or so, via an archive DVD, and use this only for launching games. Another partition with any other OS for all other tasks: surfing, emailing, browsing, working, writing, photo-editing and so forth.

If you do not need Windows, why wasting all this time to fight a battle that in the end Microsoft will win anyway?

aanker · 06-04-16, 12:18 PM

While trying to find out if I could update my Win 7, I scrolled down and saw this:

From AskWoody

"FBI pushes for more power to crush your privacy"
June 3.
http://www.askwoody.com/
-
We're on MS-DEFCON 3. I'm going to wait to update until he sorts out SP2 and related patches (also on the same page). I'm not sure if I should do the usual "Important updates" or wait, so I'm waiting : )

Take care...

andy_311 · 06-04-16, 07:08 PM

You can revert to factory settings (ie with mine win7 sp1)after 30 days I have an acer pc and had a few of them when I got mine it gave you an option to revert to factory settings the files where on your HD or burn them to disc and then delete the files of your pc. I do have win 10 installed plus I have altered a lot of files in win 10 especially for edge,cortina,etc and removed MS "Trusted Installer" permissions and there's loads of them.I have a dvd that will now let me go back to win 7 SP1 factory plus a hundred usless apps as well,my HD is only backed up to around 40% so far. So far as I know most of MS nagware/spyware is disabled inc win updates. So what do I Do stay as I am or revert back ?

Skybird · 06-05-16, 05:33 AM

Reverting back to W7 after you installed W10 is an option that MS offers, but that not for all people goes smooth and troublefree, it can give you a broken installation. Which is not surprising, considering that we talk of exchnaging ALL of the OS, not just an installed program or a data folder.

What you gonna do, you ask. Get one clean installation of W7 via your factory DVD, switch off all WUS-related stuff and THEN activate it, else WU starts maqybe while you even wait for activation. Next clean it of all the bloatware you do not want or need, and do not install anything that must be frequently updated. Make a slim, solid, trustworthy installation - and then create an image of this with an external tool, to an external HD. Keep this drive safe and declare it holy.

Not before now you start to install software, security scanners and such. If you still go with WU, do it manually - while when you do not update it at all anymore, go with another OS for all your needs, as I often explained in this thread.

Have a list with KB numbers of updates that are dangerous, and filter them out in WU, never run WU in automatic mode.

Get GWX control panel.

Do not trust words given by Microsoft, do not trust their file ratings of "optional", "recommended", "essential". They have abused them to deceive the nagware they wanted to push onto people's HDs, upgrading optional W10 advert files to recommended files, and so on.

Be on your guard, deal with MS as little as you can.

And the most important and only really reasonable advise of all: use alternatives. Everything else in the end is just a lousy compromise, leaving your system either vulnerable or corrupted. There is no really trustworthy solution under Windows anymore. Not W10. Not W7.

STEED · 06-05-16, 05:41 AM

A friend just emailed this saying bloody women in reference to his wife, he was on Win8. He also said he will give a it ago for a week before going back to Win8.

Eichhörnchen · 06-07-16, 12:21 PM

This is what it's like trying to install Windows 10 for a lot of people... a bloody farce. Takes all day and all night to download (after three failed downloads, costing me valuable metered data) then hangs up on the "Preparing to install" screen.

I don't even want Windows 10, but I've been told I should get it if I'm going to run my business online (as I plan to) because I should always have the latest and best anti virus and malware.

I wanted to install it this month while it's still free.

Belay that (to a degree, anyway)...

Shortly after the above rant, a panel popped up to begin the upgrade and, after a LONG wait (during which time I'd given up all hope) I'm finally on Windows 10, even though I still would rather not be.

My laptop is already Windows 10 so I know my way around it.

05-31-16, 06:14 AM	#784
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,532 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Neal, to my best knowledge GWX is to prevent users of W7 and W8 from getting W10 nagware and installation files - or any updates at all. It can ban on these systems the installation or looking-for any updates at all. This was necessary, since Microsoft bypassed the onboard update settings of users that thought they were safe if they switch off auto-updates or even recommended updates, and do it manually after scanning manually the available KB files for numbers they do not want. Microsoft pushed through not only the GWX nagware, but made it incredibly difficult to delete it again, and it re-released critical files time and again (up to two dozen times...) under different version numbers to trick out and bypass blacklists in scanners that were standing guard against these updates. Microsoft even went that far to have tens - if not hundreds, nobody counted them for sure - of thousands of systems auto-updating to W10 although the owners of said systems had set their settings such that right this should have been impossible, at lest should have been formally forbidden. But Microsoft does not take a No for an answer anymore. They now have changed the rules of communication and take it as permission to install if people do close nagware windows by clicking on the X at the right top corner - in the past twenty years this would have cancelled the action, now all of a sudden Microsoft says it confirms the action. Earlier, they have upgraded nagware and W10 installation updates from "optional" to "recommended", I may be wriong, but I think Woody said somwhere one of these files - junkware, mind you - even rate as essential securit yupdate now, but I could be wrong here. All this interests users of W7 and W8 only, who do not want to downgrade to Windows 10 and want to maintain even a minimum of control over their systems, and a minimum of privacy, a hilariously small amount of privacy already - and for them, GWX Control, Panel was made. You already have W10 installed. In case nobody told you: W10 users can only delay, but cannot prevent auto-updating of their systems, no matter whether they want it or not. All that faulty KB stuff, that erratic updates, the sniffware you do not want and the beta-testing program you do not want to participate in - you sooner or later will be subscribed by MS to accept all that nevertheless, for you are no longert ruler in your own house. The specific way to delay it I read somewhere in Woody'S blog, but since I never installed W10, I do not care for these W10-specifics that much and thus did not pay much attention on how to do it. Maybe there are some tricks possible with metered connections, but it is up to others to explain that, if that is possible, I cannot. You are already in the trap - you have W10. You do not need a map to avoid this trap. You need a shovel to dig yourself out. And no, I would not rely on GWX to prevent my Windows 10 installation getting any updates anymore. That is not what the tool was made for, its not for W10 users, but users of W7 and W8. Its already in the name : GWX stands for "*Get* Windows 10". Consider to dramatically reduce your dependency on and need for Microsoft. Its the only really reasonable option. And they - will not change for the better, they are running their new business policy and in that policy private end users play a significantly unimportant role. Private users simply are not the market they aim at anymore.So bury the past and let it rest there. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 05-31-16 at 06:26 AM.

05-31-16, 02:05 PM	#789
aanker Pacific Thunder Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Yellow Sea Posts: 1,896 Downloads: 236 Uploads: 14	Officially there was a one month roll back period but there is a trick to roll back after that. It involves 'reformatting' the hard drive to restore the original computer operating system and configuration it was in when it was purchased using the Recovery feature. Edit: How to Uninstall Delete Windows 10 after 30 days and rollback to Windows 8 or 7 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [LIVE] How To Downgrade If Windows 10 Doesn't Give You The Option - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.infoworld.com/article/303...0-upgrade.html Last edited by aanker; 05-31-16 at 06:17 PM.

06-04-16, 12:18 PM	#791
aanker Pacific Thunder Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Yellow Sea Posts: 1,896 Downloads: 236 Uploads: 14	From AskWoody While trying to find out if I could update my Win 7, I scrolled down and saw this: From AskWoody "FBI pushes for more power to crush your privacy" June 3. http://www.askwoody.com/ - We're on MS-DEFCON 3. I'm going to wait to update until he sorts out SP2 and related patches (also on the same page). I'm not sure if I should do the usual "Important updates" or wait, so I'm waiting : ) Take care...

06-04-16, 07:08 PM	#792
andy_311 The Old Man Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Oldham, Lancs,England Posts: 1,312 Downloads: 82 Uploads: 0	You can revert to factory settings (ie with mine win7 sp1)after 30 days I have an acer pc and had a few of them when I got mine it gave you an option to revert to factory settings the files where on your HD or burn them to disc and then delete the files of your pc. I do have win 10 installed plus I have altered a lot of files in win 10 especially for edge,cortina,etc and removed MS "Trusted Installer" permissions and there's loads of them.I have a dvd that will now let me go back to win 7 SP1 factory plus a hundred usless apps as well,my HD is only backed up to around 40% so far. So far as I know most of MS nagware/spyware is disabled inc win updates. So what do I Do stay as I am or revert back ? __________________

06-05-16, 05:33 AM	#793
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,532 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Reverting back to W7 after you installed W10 is an option that MS offers, but that not for all people goes smooth and troublefree, it can give you a broken installation. Which is not surprising, considering that we talk of exchnaging ALL of the OS, not just an installed program or a data folder. What you gonna do, you ask. Get one clean installation of W7 via your factory DVD, switch off all WUS-related stuff and THEN activate it, else WU starts maqybe while you even wait for activation. Next clean it of all the bloatware you do not want or need, and do not install anything that must be frequently updated. Make a slim, solid, trustworthy installation - and then create an image of this with an external tool, to an external HD. Keep this drive safe and declare it holy. Not before now you start to install software, security scanners and such. If you still go with WU, do it manually - while when you do not update it at all anymore, go with another OS for all your needs, as I often explained in this thread. Have a list with KB numbers of updates that are dangerous, and filter them out in WU, never run WU in automatic mode. Get GWX control panel. Do not trust words given by Microsoft, do not trust their file ratings of "optional", "recommended", "essential". They have abused them to deceive the nagware they wanted to push onto people's HDs, upgrading optional W10 advert files to recommended files, and so on. Be on your guard, deal with MS as little as you can. And the most important and only really reasonable advise of all: use alternatives. Everything else in the end is just a lousy compromise, leaving your system either vulnerable or corrupted. There is no really trustworthy solution under Windows anymore. Not W10. Not W7. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

05-31-16, 12:50 PM	#788
Fubar2Niner Silent Hunter Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: London. UK Posts: 4,139 Downloads: 275 Uploads: 0	@Sky, RRobbins and others in the know. Is it now no longer possible for Neal to roll back to his previous OS ? I ask because I experimented with W10 ( admittedly for just a couple of hours ), I then rolled back to 7 Just a thought. Best regards. Fubar2Niner

06-05-16, 05:41 AM	#794
STEED Lucky Jack Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Down Town UK Posts: 27,695 Downloads: 89 Uploads: 48	A friend just emailed this saying bloody women in reference to his wife, he was on Win8. He also said he will give a it ago for a week before going back to Win8. __________________ Dr Who rest in peace 1963-2017. To borrow Davros saying...I NAME YOU CHIBNALL THE DESTROYER OF DR WHO YOU KILLED IT!

06-07-16, 12:21 PM	#795
Eichhörnchen Starte das Auto Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: The Fens Posts: 15,755 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	It's a bloody FARCE! This is what it's like trying to install Windows 10 for a lot of people... a bloody farce. Takes all day and all night to download (after three failed downloads, costing me valuable metered data) then hangs up on the "Preparing to install" screen. I don't even want Windows 10, but I've been told I should get it if I'm going to run my business online (as I plan to) because I should always have the latest and best anti virus and malware. I wanted to install it this month while it's still free. Belay that (to a degree, anyway)... Shortly after the above rant, a panel popped up to begin the upgrade and, after a LONG wait (during which time I'd given up all hope) I'm finally on Windows 10, even though I still would rather not be. My laptop is already Windows 10 so I know my way around it. __________________ Last edited by Eichhörnchen; 06-07-16 at 11:38 PM.