GWX is dead: What’s next?

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I don’t have any idea how Microsoft is going to unthread the needle on the Get Windows 10 campaign. ch100 reports “KB3123862 and KB3173040 are now exp
[See the full post at: GWX is dead: What’s next?]

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And a hearty good riddance!

I thought for sure M$ was going to have a default action set to automatically upgrade everybody’s computers to Win X that hadn’t specifically said NO yet when their countdown clocks hit zero.

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More good news: The big banner ads pushing Windows 10 seemed to have disappeared from Microsoft.com and related sites when I checked them at 2AM Toronto time. Looks like the overt, in-your-face nagging is really dead, st least for now.

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Let’s just hope the GWX icon doesn’t turn into a GWXAU icon in our system tray starting Aug 2nd!!!!

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I never installed any of the GWX related updates on my Win7 systems. Today I compared the offered Optional Updates with a list I created before the upgrade offer expired.

In addition to 3123862 and 3173040, 3035583 is no longer offered among the Optional Updates.

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Wait until Patch Tuesday to ensure that all GWX updates have been neutered, then reinstall 7/8.

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What’s next? indeed..

removal of CEIP and telemetry patches in Windows 7 per chance? (can’t speak for 8 or 8.1)

KB3021917 Telemetry CEIP
KB3068708 CEIP Telemetry

associated with the windows 10 upgrade.

None on my windows 7 systems though but still showing on WU

The joys continue..

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Woody, I think that you understand that side of caution is NOT over: I’m keeping ALL guards up for the next 4-5 months. Then I’ll assess the Microsoft “hunter” again.

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Let’s see what Microsoft does. If they revoke the free upgrade, then we’re likely over the GWX hump.

Alas, I think it’s likely that the snooping in Win7 will increase.

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Yep.

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The bigger concern from now on is probably the likely intention to move 7/8.1 to the same forced monthly single update system used for 10, together of course with increased snooping.

Meanwhile I’ll be keeping GWX Control Panel Monitor running for as long as it’s supported as you just can’t trust MS these days.

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Why wouldn’t Microsoft continue to push Windows 10, the difference is now you will have to pay.

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I now fear every Windows Update. After what Microsoft did with the GWX campaign, I wouldn’t put it beyond them to send us updates that do nothing by implant spyware and harm our computers’ functionality.

Fortran, C++, R, Python, Java, Matlab, HTML, CSS, etc.... coding is fun!
A weatherman that can code

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FYI any one thinking that Tech Bench and the loophole will save they day may be disappointed the site appears to be down as is the “script” to allow the downloading of Win 8.1 & 7 without entering a key.I sort of wondered if that would be the case. Needless to say the win 10 machine here is set to “deferred” until after the inevitable “Anniversary debacle” that is sure to follow.

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“Alas, I think it’s likely that the snooping in Win7 will increase.”

Along with the introduction of ads in your face. No way they’re going to let Win 7 users off for another 4 years!

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Hi Woody:
July 30, 2016 8:00 AM,Windows 7, SP1
KB3123862, Gone from hide
KB3173040, gone from hide
KB3035583, gone from hide
KB2952664, still in hide
Herb K

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I am in the UK. Saturday 5pm here. The GWX icon has disappeared from the notification area for the first tine in a year (?). It’s also not running as a process. Hallelujah!

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What a coincidence! W10 “anniversary” issue on 2 August and Privacy rules change that date and will be further updated then.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/servicesagreement/faq.aspx

“Something wicked this way comes…..”

CYA with both hands.

JF

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Where’s Wikileaks when you need ’em?
JF

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I looked and the Assistive Technology page link, and while I do not need it or intend to pursue it, I was impressed about certain aspects that are possible, such as signing. Interesting for sure.

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I can confirm that 3035583 & 3173040 are both unlisted on my Win8.1 x64 machine.

3123862 was hidden & when I checked there was something else listed. SAMSUNG Electronics Co., Ltd. – Other hardware – SAMSUNG Mobile MTP Device 4.3 MB. Similar info is associated with one in the optional list except it says Mobile USB Modem instead (4.7 MB) with a publish date of 072516. When I click “more information” the optional one says “Driver Information: Coming Soon” & there is not a KB number in the URL http://sysdev.microsoft.com/en-US/Hardware/support/default.aspx.

The one in hidden must be 3123862 because that is the only other one left in hidden. 3080149 is still there & shows the number.

I unhid what I believe to be 3123862 which activates the check updates scan. 21 minutes later, it was gone from the hidden list & now resides in the important list with a 122212 publish date. http://i.imgur.com/eTtMl92.png The orange line in the screenshot I doctored up indicates the information in the description is for the optional update. Great, now I have two. I’ve seen this before with 3035583 & eventually the old one went away.

2976978 is still listed in optional, italicized & recommended.

As a result of all this nonsense we’ve been subjected to, I suspect that the games will continue in some form or fashion. M$ has demonstrated that they can’t be relied upon to do otherwise. The check updates speed battle will inevitably continue for Win7 folks. I just hope it doesn’t become an issue for us Win8.1 people. Not real confident there.

I will continue to install security updates only & ignore the optional ones unless I encounter something which convinces me to install one on some rare occasion.

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I too have noticed that KB3035583 has been removed from the “Recommended” list AND several have disappeared from the “hidden” list on my computer. BUT, I still fear that the games from M$ are far from over. Only time will tell.

Dave

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I checked my hidden update list – you should see it – maybe fifty updates ( I didn’t count ).
I see that KB3035583 is gone, but the telemetry update, KB3080149 is still there.

Windows 8.1.

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Reminds me of an episode of an old TV program…

Approaching the end of July, all the population enamored of a FREE offer jump on it. All except for those few suspicious naysayers.

July 29th rolls around and the offer ends [that’s when the doors close on the spaceship in the episode].

The sun rises on August 2nd [the spaceship has completed its prep sequence and begins to rise into the Earth’s atmosphere]. All those who have Windows 10 are now locked in [that’s when the guy comes running up and screams “That book — To Serve Mankind — IT’S A COOKBOOK!!!”]

Yes, friends, those of you who ignored the naysayers, you are about to be probed unmercifully and served on a platter after being force-fed and fattened on ad after ad.

(Hey, waiting for those Windows Updates have driven me mad … MAD, I tell you!)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk01eeKMD_I

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I am expecting Microsoft to keep updating KB2952664 and similar as they will want all Windows 7/8.1 PCs to be Windows 10 ready for in-place upgrade, although the campaign related patches have been removed. Most if not all of the other patches are doing telemetry and make sure the applications installed are compatible with Windows 10 and this is the reason they get updated often.
Windows 7 Enterprise Edition seems to get the same treatment, except for the campaign patches which were never offered, i.e KB3035583 and KB3173040. I am not sure why, as there is no upgrade in-place available for the Enterprise Edition, unless I am not understanding the licensing agreement correctly or it has recently changed.

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@Herb K This is exactly why I am not recommending hiding. Now you have orphaned entries in the cached database which may or may not cause problems in the future. There is a way to reset the cached database, but I would rather avoid it and use as last resort.

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I haven’t seen any upgrade-in-place for Enterprise either.

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I wrote the following comment a few days ago… about this very thing……….. It’s rather alarming to an ordinary person’s eye with all the
‘legalise’ that it is shrouded in! But they do go on further about NOT using content in your emails and documents and stuff……… but my question is why would they also collect that even if they don’t use it….. or do they…. it really needs clarification in simple layman’s language!!! LT

Actually was looking at it all further and found something which would be nice to have clarified by MS and failing MS others This was in the Privacy bit about YOUR CONTENT……… and I quote:

“b. To the extent necessary to provide the Services to you and others, to protect you and the Services, and to improve Microsoft products and services,

YOU GRANT TO MICROSOFT A WORLDWIDE AND ROYALTY-FREE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENCE TO USE YOUR CONTENT, FOR EXAMPLE, TO MAKE COPIES OF, RETAIN, TRANSMIT, REFORMAT, DISPLAY AND DISTRIBUTE VIA COMMUNICATION TOOLS YOUR CONTENT ON THE SERVICES. IF YOU PUBLISH YOUR CONTENT IN AREAS OF THE SERVICE
WHERE IT IS AVAILABLE BROADLY ON LINE WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS YOUR CONTENT MAY APPEAR IN DEMONSTRATIONS OR MATERIALS THAT PROMOTE THE SERVICE. SOME OF THE SERVICES ARE SUPPORTED BY ADVERTISING.

Controls for how Microsoft personalises advertising are available on the Security & privacy page of the Microsoft account management website. We do not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your documents, photos or other personal files to target advertising to you. Our advertising policies are covered in detail in the Privacy Statement. ”

WHAT DOES ALL THAT MEAN I WONDER……. ABOUT THE
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENCE TO USE YOUR CONTENT.
LT

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For the first time in a year the ‘updates are available’ icon in the System Tray has come back – and I haven’t done a thing! When I think of all the hours I’ve wasted trying to fix that… grrrr! There must be an awful lot of people that haven’t been checking manually for updates, who are suddenly being confronted by all the ones for the last year that they were blissfully unaware of. Ironically, if I hadn’t wasted so much time trying to fix WU – and rapidly losing faith in MS, I would probably have bought a new machine with Win10 pre-installed by now. So well done MS for shooting yourself in the foot!

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@ch100;

“…There is a way to reset the cached database, but I would rather avoid it and use as last resort.”

There is a way to permanently remove hidden updates in Win7SP1 and Win8.1?

Will using GWX Control Panel do it?

Thanks,

JF

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Prior to the 29th, on my Win7, i had 54 hidden updates, just checked back and now i have 42 only, but i still have no faith that MS won’t try some update trickery in the months to come !

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Very strange… I just checked the hidden updates on my Windows 7 desktop, and they’re all gone, every one of them … There were two dozen or so there two days ago …

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People should never be treated this way by any company trying to sell them a product. Microsoft should be a shame of themselves. They do not deserve anyone’s future business.

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@Joe Friday
I might not understand your question correctly. The WU local cached database can be deleted by:
– Stop Windows Update service
– Stop BITS service
– Delete C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution folder
Then either restart only Windows Update service or better restart the computer.
First scan will take somehow longer as the database needs to be recreated with all current entries.
By doing the database reset, all update history is lost, otherwise it does not have a functional impact.

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@Joe Friday
Sorry, I don’t use GWX Control Panel, I prefer to manage Windows myself using the Microsoft published documentation, which I believe is what GWX Control Panel does in a more user friendly way. If this is the case, GWX Control Panel does not remove entries from the WU database and does not operate on the database.

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The following web page provides a simple procedure for purging the update cache database. I just used the suggested batch file without problem. I would recommend adding a ‘pause’ command as the last instruction, to give yourself a chance to see all the actions the batch file performed.
http://ccm.net/faq/2471-how-to-purge-the-windows-update-cache

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Still in my hidden updates
KB2952664
KB3021917
KB3068708
KB3075249
KB3080149

These are the only ones left out of 23 hidden updates in regards to telemetry and nagware (windows 10).
The other 18 are gone this morning 7/31
The 23 hidden updates were present on 7/14

Windows 7 SP1 64 bit, Windows Server 2008 R2

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That’s quite correct.

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And the healing begins…..

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I sure hope so, but I fully expect at least the telemetry ones to reappear, and soon … I don’t think we can get too comfortable yet…

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All my hidden updates reported 7/30 in the “Time to say Thanks” thread are still in the hidden list today. Wish they’d go away before the next Patch Tues. so I don’t have to deal with them.

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@ch100@Woody@SamH.

Re: Removing hidden updates.

Thank you all for the help. I really appreciate it.

Clicking on GWX Control Panel button “Click to Clear Update Cache” displays a list of 4 things that will be removed. You can then cancel the action by clicking “No”.

It appears there is no way to just clean out the hidden updates alone.

Is that right?

JF

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> I wouldn’t put it beyond them to send us updates that do nothing by implant spyware and harm our computers’ functionality.

That’s worth repeating…

“harm our computers’ functionality”

Is there any question that Microsoft could do things that would worsen the experience of using Windows, yet not be able to be identified as an overt attempt at sabotage.

As an example, consider the recent long delay times when running Windows Update on older Windows systems…

Updates COULD be performed – if you waited long enough. Even with today’s Microsoft most folks figured it for a bug rather than sabotage.

But let’s consider…

Some computers were destroyed by the fact that the hard loops caused a good bit of CPU heating, pushing some weak hardware over the edge. Yes, it’s true.

Others were no doubt nudged to do the Windows 10 upgrade because the Windows Updates they never used to have problems with were now causing them delays/problems/security concerns. Or maybe they gave up on reinstalling an older Windows 7 system.

Bug? Or very subtle sabotage?

Harm our computers’ functionality indeed!

Microsoft’s recent antics have taught us one thing: Be afraid, be VERY afraid, of software Microsoft wants us to run.

-Noel

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I doubt that GWX Control Panel will touch any hidden updates.

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@SamH The procedure presented at http://ccm.net/faq/2471-how-to-purge-the-windows-update-cache purges only the Windows Update Cache, but does not reset the database DataStore.edb which is in a different folder, C:WindowsSoftwareDistributionDataStore
While the procedure presented at that web site might have a use case, I think that the more useful action to take in situations when the hidden updates become out of sync with what is available at Microsoft is to reset the datastore.edb and this is commonly done by deleting the whole SoftwareDistribution folder

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This is probably what is going to happen.

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@Noel
I would not even consider it a bug, it is bad software design (or bad maintenance) of the Component Based Servicing stack which did not take in consideration the reality after 7 years of updates and the complex relationship between various updates, mostly Security Updates in this case.
Now when Microsoft is testing the Cumulative Update concept which could potentially resolve the slow scanning issue, users started complaining about less transparency involved in having multiple updates bundled in a package with good reason.
The only solution satisfying almost everyone is to do what currently happens with the MSE (or the other flavours of anti-malware products) Definition Updates, i.e actively maintaining and removing older superseded updates when new ones are released.
The downside is that users, mostly corporate admins needing older updates for compatibility reasons in complex environments would not have them available.
To some extent this is the approach with the CUs in Windows 10.

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Only 3 updates have been expired by Microsoft recently and they are all related to GWX, as it was confirmed by many posters.

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7/31/16 Win-7 Home Premium 64bit SP1
I definitely had selected
This was off too
Checked for updates and took a shower about 4PM EDST
Came back and found it had installed 45 new updates by itself ! !
Made updates for “Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010.
I guess if I did not make a selection a timer did it for me.
MORAL OF THE STORY – STAY AND MONITOR THE PROCESS
Checking for WU runs much faster – a few minutes now

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7/31/16 Win-7 Home Premium 64bit SP1
I definitely had “Never check for updates” selected
This was off too <”Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important ones“
Checked for updates about 3:45 PM EDST and took a shower
Came back and found it had installed 45 new updates by itself ! !
Made updates for “Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010”
I guess if I did not make a selection a timer did it for me.
MORAL OF THE STORY – STAY AND MONITOR THE PROCESS
Checking for WU runs much faster – a few minutes now

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You’re making the base assumption that the potential good in Windows Updates merits their being considered.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand it and share in the thought process. A lifetime of experience has gone into those brain pathways.

It’s not hard to see why we have come to think this way, but it’s also clear that we have soundly entered the era of “let the customer alpha test the software”.

Does it still make sense to assume Windows Updates are innocent until proven guilty? THAT assumption is what I’m suggesting revisiting.

Let us not ignore that we are here at a site that quite justifiably maintains an “MS DEFCON” indication that is most often on level 2, which means “don’t trust ’em just yet”.

Let us also remember that Microsoft themselves offer a 3 month delay for those who want “tried and true” over “bleeding edge”, and even beyond that a “Long Term Servicing Branch” for the ultra conservative…

I think there could be a growing gap between what we wish for in a Windows Update, and what we’re actually getting.

But that’s really not the crux of my comment above. I was just using a recent Windows Update “glitch” to illustrate that things are not always black and white.

Beyond hoping for always-perfect Windows Updates, we hope dearly that Microsoft doesn’t ACTIVELY DEGRADE our experience with whatever operating system version we choose to use. But considering that such hope could well fly in the face of Microsoft’s ongoing profits, and the observation that they haven’t exactly been noble lately…

-Noel

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Something strange happen 2 days after the GWX expire.

My CPU drop at 30% and the last few days it was a 50% or more
No problem to install an update

I’m with Vista 64 bits

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Woody,
I also noticed that, in MSE, when I clicked on Update, it started working again. I had been manually downloading and installing the 64 bit version for a month or so.
Meanwhile, back at XP (remember XP?), I’m showing KB3115308, KB3115309 security updates for Microsoft Office compatibility pack service pack 3, and KB890830 Windows malicious software removal tool. Are those safe to install?
Thanks,
Morty

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I forgot to say I’m talking about two different computers: one with Win 7 Enterprise and the other with XP Pro SP3.
Morty

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I’m working on an MS-DEFCON change even as we speak, but the Office security updates look OK.

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Thanks!
Looks like I spoke too soon. The update directly from MSE didn’t work today. Back to manual labor.

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https://www.yahoo.com/tech/free-windows-10-upgrade-party-002221281.html

What about this article?

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As best I can tell, anyone with a Win7 or 8.1 key can still get a free upgrade to Win10. Hard to believe, though, that after the GWX debacle, there’s anyone out there who really wants Win10 and doesn’t have it.

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I didn’t want to go to Win 7 either. Now I like it better than XP. (You remember XP.)
From what I picked up from you, it seems that 10 does have some good things to offer, but it still needs adjustments to be road-ready. And then, of course, nothing makes something less appetizing than having it rammed down your throat.
I figure I’ll be ready for 10 after they stop supporting 7!
Morty

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That’s the right attitude. 🙂

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