You continue to miss the point. You are railing on and on about having the "recommended" check off - which is sound advice. I have had that check off for months. But that update I keep asking you to check out (KB3112343) which is now clearly identified as layout some sort of mysterious groundwork for Windows 10 - APPEARED ON THE 'Important/Critical" side of the equation during the Dec 2015 Patch Tuesday. Here what KB3112343 does... "About this update This update enables support for additional upgrade scenarios from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and provides a smoother experience when you have to retry an operating system upgrade because of certain failure conditions. This update also improves the ability of Microsoft to monitor the quality of the upgrade experience." It also apparently "fixes" this as well... "Issues that are fixed in this update Assume that you use Software Update agent to apply software updates or determine the software update compliance in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2. Windows Update agent scans client computers periodically. In this situation, the scan fails and generates a "Not Required" state for all updates. Additionally, you receive an "8007000E" error message." So what we have here is an update that suddenly appeared on the "important" list - that does two things - greases the wheels for a mysterious Win 10 upgrade scenario AND fixes something - all rolled into one update. I think that fact that it "fixes" something - all of a sudden made it critical and that put it on the important (instead of recommended) list. Which means - it will get installed if you continue to have WU set to "install updates automatically" but have the Recommended checkbox off. In other words - this update - which every Windows 7 user should be avoiding - will get installed if you are not paying attention. I had this update offered to me and I am running Windows 7 Enterprise - which is supposed to be immune to all things Windows 10. So Microsoft continues to try to slip things that are clearly not "important" under the guise of a "critical/important" in WU. Luckily I caught it because I read up on it first. But if I would have followed your lead - this update would get installed without anyone being the wiser. Bottom line - Microsoft cannot be trusted at any level of WU now for Windows 7. All users - regardless of whether they want 10 or not should be aware of this fact. And it's only gonna get worse. Sonic.
I'm rolling back a laptop from Win-10 to Win-7 right now. The Owner's not "Tech Savvy" so needless to say they had it set to automatically install recommended updates. They Claim they never clicked on the icon to install Win-10, but it installed itself anyway Fortunately they haven't used it since the upgrade and rolling back is going smooth. Today is Day 29 or 30 since the upgrade, so they're also lucky My Wife and Kids were out the House and I did it Today
The point is, auto updates is default, people should not have to turn off updates etc to stop w10 upgrade updates / nags, How about an update nag that says do you want w10 upgrade Yes / No Finished.. i'm Happy then.
True; my Windows 7 machines auto-installed it as well. But that update isn't going to give you Windows 10. Yeah... so? That update came out even for Embedded Standard 7 and Server 2008 R2 on IA64, an architecture for which Windows is no longer being developed. You don't think the update is going to push Windows 10 onto those machines as well, do you? Do you think the now critical update is something every server admin running 2008 R2 should be avoiding as well, just to be "safe", maybe? Or is it possible that there are actually relevant fixes in there and not everything is as bad as sensationalist media and paranoid users make it out to be? And you'd still be on Windows 7. All I'm saying is users should also be aware of the fact that all this talk about Microsoft "forcing" the upgrade on "everyone" with "no way" of blocking it short of disabling updates completely or reformatting and installing Enterprise is BS and mostly based on FUD. This supposedly "dangerous" update you keep bringing up just proves my point.
True enough. If there was an option to say I don't want Win 10 now or ever, I might be even happier. But since Windows 7 is pretty much at it's end of life, there would seem to be little harm in installing all important updates not related to the Windows 10 upgrade, then turning automatic updates off completely. Otherwise,it seems reasonable to me for MS to continue to remind people they are running obsolete/ unsupported software. In fact, I did a fresh XP install on an older laptop a week or so back, and saw and end of life popup there soon after the install, until I went in and monkeyed with update settings. Windows 7 is dead. Continue to run it at your own discretion and risk.
Never said that it would give anyone Windows 10. But it may very well "prep" a machine for something to come in the future. I'll pass for now. Sonic
There's a collection of tools at OlderGeeks website that kill off nag pop-ups and XP warnings There is also the quite well-known GWX control panel there
Well - considering more than half of the civilized world with computers is running Windows 7 right now - and probably will be until 2020 - that's a strange statement. Win 7 is infinitely more mature than 10 will ever be and actually runs properly. That alone is cause for celebration Plus the fact that it's fully supported until 2020. Making it hardly dead or hardly risky. Corporations may be on 7 well past 2020. Just a fact of life. Sonic.
Ever since the first pre human lit a fire and cooked a dead animal there have been idiots that insisted that the old way is better. That trend continues with people desperately defending Windows 7 as a shining beacon of civilization that must be maintained on their machines or the human race will die. These same types of people also loudly hated Trains, Cars, Televisions, Rock music, Color Televisions and Computers.
Well - I am certainly not "defending" anything...and make no mistake - I could care less what version I am on - but it has to work with 100% efficiency. One of them in the conversation does and one does not. If Win 10 actually worked right and was mature enough to deal with the "real world" - I would be all over it. (and I probably will be someday). But for right now - here Dec 2015 - I look at Windows like a corporation does - as in 1. We have work to do 2. Nobody here has any time (or desire) to beta test your crappy unfinished code and deal with unplanned failure 3. We have work to do. So at this time (today) Windows 7 allows us to do the above without any hassle factor. Your mileage may vary - and probably does. Sonic.
A big YES to that Sonic ! I use Linux for all my personal stuff , but I have to have a fully working , reliable Windows OS on hand for my work. And W7 is the only one that ticks all the boxes for me . It's one of the few products that M$ actually got right , IMO ( the other being XP ) I might have said this in another thread on this forum , but I stand by it - M$ have clearly moved their core business out of software and into data-mining , some time ago . Note that W10 is described not as an OS , but as a "platform " ( which has COMPULSORY updating !!! ) And what does W10 actually offer us ? Well , we get to sell every aspect of our online personal lives into perpetual whoredom .... ... but let's look on the bright side .... at least the "Start" button is back ! " A quantum leap forward in technology " ? That's my two cents worth. Season's Greetings to all on MDL !
Yeah, I still run xp and 7 on certain machines, and will do so for some time. I will not bash MS for trying to remind me that these are obsolete. Just patch them up as best as possible and turn off auto updates. One of my cars is 18 years old, I still drive it, and I can still buy spare parts. So I guess you could say it is still supported. But I have a newer car that really is much nicer, and I would not criticize auto manufacturers for encouraging people to buy new cars.
There are a vast number of ATMs all over the world that are still running an embedded version of XP . Shhhhh !!! .... don't tell anyone ! The same is true for major government departments everywhere , including the rich nations . Of course , they have "special arrangements " for extended support from M$ , on a client-by-client basis , and at colossal expense ..... ....but it's still way cheaper than building and configuring an entire new system from the ground up. " Newer is better , because it's newer " ? .... that is the feverish dream of every advertising exec on Earth !
+1. I am all for companies hawking their wares. Every now and then something does come along that is actually "better". And I had fully supported Microsoft in this regard right up until they became so f-ing heavy handed with sneaking/forcing Win10 on unsuspecting users at every turn. I totally understand they want to make money and have their sales targets etc - but then again so do I. And my needs take massive priority over anything MS will try and do. So in order for me to make money and use my machines to realize that goal - stability and maturity rule the day. That is simply not Windows 10 right now. I am also still at a loss to understand what is actually "better" with Win 10. I did try it for a full two month production run on one of my main workstations but never once in that period did I find anything in it that actually made me go - "Wow - I need this!" Time will tell. Sonic.
Really ? You amaze me ! For one thing , the "Start" button has returned , and for another , its NEW Peace and goodwill to everyone ! " ' Tis the Season "