Microsoft is currently engaged in an unprecedented hard-sell campaign to push rapid adoption of Windows 10 by existing users of Win 7 and 8. This includes a series of nagware popups urging you to “Get Windows 10” being stealth installed on Window 7 and 8 devices in the guise of bug fixes and security updates by Windows Update.
More recently, Microsoft has actually been stealth-downloading gigabytes of install files for Windows 10 onto Win7 and Win8 systems without warning or permission. (This can completely fill up the remaining free space on low-end Windows 8.1 tablets with 1 or 2 GB of flash memory, rendering them completely unusable.) In a few instances, MS has actually launched the Win 10 install without warning or permission.
Win 10 is the last discrete version of Windows ever. Going forward, Windows 10 will be continually and endlessly changing with silent FORCED updates done without your knowledge or consent.
Unlike previous versions of Windows, where Window Update would present a list of patches and let you pick and choose which ones to apply (and undo if they caused problems), Win 10 just silently forces changes into your system. This would be great --IF-- MS didn't have such a horrible record of botched updates. In just the FIRST week of Win 10 release, there have been three major screwups that have bricked just-installed Win 10 installations. One driver update for certain video chips locked machines into endless reboots, and one totally killed many machines rendering them unable to boot at all.
This continual unannounced changing of Win 10 means you are dealing with an unknown endlessly moving target. Just because programs and device drivers worked today, there is no assurance they will work tomorrow, next week or next month, due to the endless stealth updates.
This is going to be especially significant with ham radio software because much of it hasn't changed significantly since the XP era of the mid-to late 2000's. Sooner or later some secret update will start breaking these elderly programs, with no recourse to uninstall the offending patch (if you can even identify it).
Win 10 has escalated invasion of privacy to an unprecedented level. Win 10 is far more "cloud-oriented" than previous versions of Windows. As part of this, it's embedded "telemetry" reports practically everything you do, every program you run, every file you open back to the MS mother ship for analysis and marketing purposes. It shares your WiFi passwords with friends on your contact list. It can (and does) pop up ads in the middle of LOCALLY RUNNING programs. It attempts to default file saves of local programs to Microsoft's cloud, rather than to your own hard disk. It tries to thwart downloads of browsers other than Edge;i.e. that can run adblocker and popup-blocker plug-ins. It ignores entries in the Windows HOSTS file aimed at blocking unwanted communications to specific URLs. MS has taken it upon itself to scan your local files to determine which of your BitTorrent downloads and installed programs are "illegal".
Many of these URLs are hard-coded in the communications modules. You can’t stop or "black-hole" them with entries in the HOSTS file, or with firewalls running on the same computer. Blocking them requires entries outside the PC in your router’s block list.
MS is now attempting to stealth-load the same telemetry "spyware" into Win 7 and Win 8 systems under the guise of important "Customer Experience Improvement Program” (a.ka. CEIP) patches by Windows Update. However, at least with Win7 and 8 you can see the list of proposed downloads BEFORE they download, and uncheck them. Further, there are simple third-party batch file tools that can scan and uninstall this unwanted invasive crapware, including the "Get Windows 10" nagware popups campaign.)
Further, MS has started stealth-downloading the ENTIRE Win 10 setup image (i.e. multi-gigabyte DVD image) into Win 7 & 8 systems, whether you asked for it or not, "just in case you decide to upgrade". It's stealing gigabytes of your disk space and blowing through wireless device data quotas.
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/10/windows_10_forced_download/> (This is a British computer and IT news site)
As of late Novmber 2015, Microsoft has been further intensifying their effort to force Windows 10 upgrade "nagware" into Windows 7 & 8 systems. They have been caught repeatedly using Windows updates to cancel "Do not upgrade OS" flags in existing Win 7 and 8 systems (set by users using the tools below). See this 7 December 2015 article from Computer World:
Note also the three other stories about these forced upgrades linked in the right-hand sidebar of this story.
As of January 2016, Microsoft is further ratcheting up their efforts to push Windows 10 onto on Win 7 and Win 8 systems, by reclassifying the Windows 10 install files from "optional" to "important" in Windows Update . The significance of this is that "optional" updates are defaulted to "NO" (i.e. you have to explicitly select them), while "important" updates are defaulted to YES (i.e. you will get them unless you explicitly cancel them).
If you have Windows Update on "automatic", the result is that 3-6 GB of install files WILL BE DOWNLOADED, and the Windows 10 install/upgrade MAY BE launched without warning.
Further, in another example of how Microsoft has completely lost their mind in their desperate frenzy to force Windows 10 uptake, they have (as of early January) embarked on a smear campaign against Windows 7. They have begun a classic FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) strategy of the type IBM used to mount. An MS press release in early January 2016, implies that you will start having difficulty acquiring drivers for new hardware, or be unable to install the latest games if you don't upgrade to Win 10.
The first sign you have been hit with this unwanted crapware is the appearance of a white Windows logo in the system tray in the lower-right corner of the Windows desktop on Windows 7 and 8 systems. An incessant series of popups urging you to update will follow.
If you have already been hit with the GWX nagware and possible installs of Win10-style “telemetry”, you can un-install them with the following .BAT (batch) file.
Open a blank document in Windows Notepad or similar editor. Copy/paste the following lines into it. Save the file as Zap-Win10-Updates.BAT or some such. Note the file extension “.BAT” rather than the default “.TXT” . After the save, locate this file in the Windows Explorer, RIGHT-click it and “Run As Administrator”. After a couple of UAC “Are you sure” prompts, a black “DOS Box” window will open. You will be repeatedly asked to “Hit any key to continue”. Just keep hitting <ENTER> until the black window closes; then reboot.
After the uninstalls complete, look for the subdirectory (i.e. “folder”) called \$Windows.~BT located off the root of the same drive as Windows. You will need to have “Show Hidden Files” enabled in the Explorer to see it. If found, delete it and its contents. (This is the location where the stealth download of the entire Windows 10 installer is being placed, eating up gigabytes of your disk space.) This directory will contain a layout equivalent to a Windows 10 install DVD-ROM and will be somewhere between 3 and 6 GB.
You can “immunize” Win 7 and 8 against these unwanted downloads and prevent the deleted files "coming back from the dead" with the next Windows Update.
Note that this tool has undergone repeated updates and revisions every few weeks as Microsoft has become ever more aggressive and evasive about their coercive forced-upgrade tactics.
Open Windows Notepad and copy & paste the text below into the open window. Then save it with a name ending in .REG such as
These lines are Windows registry entries. Locate the saved file in the Windows File Explorer. Right-click it and choose “Merge” to read it into the Windows Registry. Then reboot the system to make it effective.
Or disable Windows Update entirely, and use the off-line AutoPatcher patching system for Win 7 and 8.1, available from <http://autopatcher.net> . AutoPatcher downloads the entire set of patches and updates for a given version of Windows, stores them locally on your hard disk or removable storage device. You can then update any number of PCs without an Internet connection. When run, Autopatcher presents a list of ALL patches issued for a given 32- or 64-bit version of Windows, indicates which ones are already installed, and lets you opt in or out of any that need to be installed.
Zap_Win10_Additions.bat A Windows batch file to remove the Windows-10-style privacy-invading "telemetry" modules being stealth-loaded into Window 7 and 8.x systems. Right-click this link and "Save As" to a location on your hard drive. Then locate the file, right-click it and choose "Run As Administrator". A black "Command Prompt" window a.k.a. "DOS box" will open. Hit <Enter> at each pause until command window closes.
GWX_Control-Panel Get Windows 10 nagware control panel ("X" = Roman 10) that disables and removes Windows 10 nagware and unwanted stealth-downloaded files. Download this file, then run it. This utility is ready-to-run -- no formal setup or install is required. Be sure to enable the "Monitor mode" in the lower-left corner of it's screen. This activates a resident monitor function similar to an anti-virus program to prevent Windows Update from trying again to install Windows 10 crapware. This is the download page for "GWX Control Panel": <http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/2015/08/using-gwx-stopper-to-permanently-remove.html> .
Never10 Gibson Research Corp's ready-to-run easy-to-use tool for blocking Windows 10 nagware and forced downloads/installs. Just download it, run it to "immunize" your Win 7 or 8 system against Windows 10 nagware, and then delete the program. No formal install is required. Note that this utility will not remove existing Windows 10 nagware -- it only blocks attempted installs and future downloads. You may still wish to install and run the far more aggressive "GWX Control Panel" above, that can remove existing Get Windows 10 nagware and files.
Note that this tool will download an update for "Windows Update" from Microsoft (Windows 7-KB3065987 or Windows 8.1- KB3065988). This is a newer version of Windows Update that can be instructed to not download the Windows 10 stuff. There may be a lengthy wait while this patch is downloaded and installed. (Even Microsoft's seemingly infinite server capacity is being strained by the grotesque amount of data being pushed out by the Windows 10 upgrade campaign.)
Stop-Windows-10-Nags-and-Forced-Updates.reg A Windows 7/8 registry addition that tell Windows Update that you don't want to upgrade to Windows 10. (This is a ready-to-run version of the registry entries discussed above.) Right-click this link and choose "Save As ..." to some location on your hard disk. Locate the file in Windows Explorer, right-click it, and choose "Merge. Note that recent Windows Updates are actually attempting to reverse this setting. You need to install the resident mode of the GWX Control Panel above to ensure this stays set.