How to completely avoid upgrading to Windows 10... forever

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How to completely avoid upgrading to Windows 10... forever

Since the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft has - for want of a better way of putting it - pissed off a tremendous number of people for the way it has tried to force the latest version of the operating system onto people. Some people found set up files were automatically downloaded, others were forcibly upgraded practically against their will, but plenty of people have been irritated by constant nagging about the availability of an upgrade they’re simply not interested in. Never 10 is a new tool that should mean the end of this pestering.

Various tools and techniques have been spawned as a result of things, providing fans of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 with ways to avoid Windows 10 and Microsoft's adverts for it. Maybe you're holding out for more feature-complete builds from the Redstone branch, or perhaps you just don’t like change. You would think that Microsoft would understand that 'no' means 'no' but there have been countless stories of people who have declined the Windows 10 upgrade finding themselves subjected to continued nagging. A registry hack can be used to block nags and upgrades, but Never 10 is a free portable app that does the hard work for you.

Never 10 is a free tool from Gibson Research Corporation which places users firmly in control of whether Windows 10 is installed or not. While the name might imply that it is all about avoiding Windows 10, this is just part of the story. It's entirely possible that you might change your mind further down the line, and Never 10 can also be used to lift the upgrade block once you have put it in place.
But the primary purpose of Never 10 is to prevent Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 from being upgraded to Windows 10. As the authors say:

"Many users of Windows 7 and 8.1 are happy with their current version of Windows and have no wish to upgrade to Windows 10. There are many reasons for this, but among them is the fact that Windows 10 has become quite controversial due to Microsoft's evolution of their Windows operating system platform into a service which, among other things, aggressively monitors and reports on its users' activities. This alone makes many users uncomfortable enough to cause them to choose to wait. Additionally, a few months into 2016, Windows 10 started displaying unsolicited advertisements on its users' desktops."

If you run it on a Windows 10 computer, Never 10 can do nothing for you - although you may still be able to manually roll back to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Otherwise, you will be given the option of disabling or enabling the upgrade to Windows 10, as well as ensuring that you have the latest version of Windows Update installed.

The beauty of Never 10 is its simplicity. It's a portable app, so there's no need to even install it; if you're the technological go-to-guy/gal, it's a valuable tool to stick on a USB drive to use on friends' and family's computers.

Download your free copy of Never 10 from Gibson Research Corporation.

Source: BetaNews

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Microsoft has ruined my day, and possibly my life

An unwanted software update has moved my files, broken my printer and stopped the sound on iPlayer

I'm sitting at my computer, getting on with my work, when suddenly an unseen hand takes over. It stops my work and starts an update, which I can not stop, never asked for and do not want, from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Red alert! Where is my work? What the hell is happening to my computer?

"Your computer?" says Clayden scornfully, and he is right. I'm sitting in my home, at my desk, using a computer that I think belongs to me, but it doesn't. It seems to belong to Microsoft, because they're in charge of it. They've poked their way into my living room, stopped me working, sabotaged my printer, which was specially set up to match Windows 7, stopped the sound on iPlayer, wasted hours of my time while I fiddle about trying to find files and sort out how this wretched new system works. They've given me a fright, ruined my day, and possibly my life, because I think I've lost the bulk of my documents.

An annoying little notice rears up in the corner of my screen. "I'm Cortana", it says. "Ask me anything." Here's a machine telling me what to do, and I'm falling for it. Because I just wrote: "It says". No, it doesn't. It can't speak. It's a sodding machine, taking over.

I moan at Fielding, who's cheesed off with his Mac, which has also sabotaged his iPlayer. He must update it. It's only four years old. But this is the age of built-in obsolescence, AKA rubbish, guaranteed not to last.

"Are you sure you haven't turned yours off?" he asks. No. It's on. I can see the little lights glimmering. There's just no sound or sense to it.

How dare Microsoft intrude on my private life like this? What a bloody cheek. And I am not alone. They've been doing these updates since July last year, although they claim they don't install them without users' permission. Whatever's going on, they need to fix it like they promised. Because it's still happening. So I'm stuck here, waiting for them to come and fix it. How long do you think they'll be?

Michele Hanson for The Guardian

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Spontaneous Windows 10 Update Prevents Game Dev From Checking Out Of Hotel

Microsoft really wants people to upgrade their machines to Windows 10, to the point that computers will now install the new operating system without your knowledge. This lead to a frustrating (but darkly humorous) situation today for Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail, while checking out of a hotel.

"I woke up all chill and relaxed and then I accidentally booked a flight departing in an hour and a half so now I’m packing in a hurry", said Ismail on Twitter.

We’ve all been there before, but what happened next? Not so much.

"My hotel can't check me out because their computer decided to just go for it & is currently in the middle of updating itself to Windows 10", he said.

This isn't the first time Windows 10 upgrades have sprouted up at inopportune times. My own computer, for example, randomly upgraded to Windows 10 a few months back. Windows 10 even locked me out of my own files, due to a glitch. Not long ago, a news station computer decided it wanted to upgrade in the middle of a broadcast. "Don't you love when that pops up?" mused the reporter.



Thankfully, Ismail's hotel didn't keep him waiting around.

"They wrote down my name and room number on a piece of paper after giving it a few more minutes", he told me.

Source: Kotaku