Will I be able to opt out of the Win10 upgrade?

I just bumped into a great question….

Hi,

I’m an individual end user who does not want Windows 10 for many reasons.

I do not have my PC configured to do automatic updates. I do them manually.

Can I assume that this will enable me to opt out of the Windows 10 update, when it becomes a Recommended udpate?

Thanks!

First, I’m glad that you update manually, not automatically. The folks with auto updates turned on are going to get a rather rude surprise early next year. At the same time, it’s very important for you to update your machine periodically. You have to install the security patches. It’s really that simple. Otherwise, your machine is running  around with a “Kick Me” sign on it.

Given our recent experiences with Microsoft’s headlong race to get everyone upgraded to Windows 10, I hesitate to say anything with any sort of authority. Simple fact is that nobody knows what they’re going to do. I don’t think Microsoft itself has thought it all out. But it seems very likely that MS will continue in its earlier vein: If you don’t install updates automatically, you can go into Windows Update, uncheck the “Upgrade to Windows 10” item when it appears, and that should be the end of it.

Terry Myerson also promised that we’d be able to turn off the nagging, “You can specify that you no longer want to receive notifications of the Windows 10 upgrade through the Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 settings pages.” Unfortunately, as noted in my InfoWorld article, we have no idea what that’ll look like or how it’ll work. For example, will the setting get reset from time to time by an optional KB update? Don’t laugh. That’s exactly what happened with GWX, the kinder and gentler pusher.

Right now, turning Automatic Update to “Notify but don’t download” (as I’ve been recommending for a decade now) is your best bet. Then follow the news to see what happens, and how to deal with it.

Of course, I’ll be covering the topic in spades in InfoWorld and here on AskWoody.

Just to make sure you understand where I’m coming from… I’m not anti-Windows 10. It’s been a good OS for me, and it’ll get better shortly with the “Windows 10 Fall Update” release. But it isn’t for everybody – and it misbehaves badly on a substantial number of computers. You need to understand the nuances — snooping, forced stealthy upgrades — before you take the plunge.

What really bothers me is the way Microsoft has been rolling it out. Nadella says he wants us to “love Windows” and that’s exactly the right attitude. Instead of forcing it down inexperienced users’ throats, Microsoft needs to generate enough goodwill toward Windows 10 so that everyone’s clamoring to install it.

Carrot. Not stick.

Microsoft’s Win10 beneficence continues next year with a strong-arm upgrade for Windows 7 and 8.1

Resistance may not be futile, but it’s sure getting tougher.

InfoWorld Woody on Windows

New Shockwave player

This from EP:

New Adobe Shockwave player security update released Oct. 27 on Adobe
security bulletin APSB15-26 (though I hardly use Shockwave player lately):
https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/shockwave/apsb15-26.html

Windows 10 gets Cumulative Update 10, KB 3105210, plus “Alice in Wonderland” patch KB 3106928

Not a whole lotta documentation, and what we have is in no small way self-contradictory.

Welcome to the world of forced stealthy patches.

InfoWorld Woody on Windows.

Windows 10 Preview build 10576 has changes so small you may miss them

 But it looks an awful lot like the “RTM” version of T2, the next Windows 10.

I don’t understand the big brouhaha about Miracast in Edge, because it’s been there for at least three builds. Admittedly, it didn’t work before, and now it appears to, but it’s hardly new.

InfoWorld Woody on Windows

Photo: Pawel Loj

Windows 10 beta build 10576 and Win10 Mobile build 10581 today

I’m downloading Mobile 10581. Gabe Aul says later this afternoon for Win10 build 10576.

Push the Windows 10 improvement petition over 5,000 signatures

Two weeks ago, I published an article in InfoWorld’s Woody on Windows, asking folks to sign a petition that asks Microsoft to fix Windows 10 in two key ways:

• Microsoft must give Windows 10 users more control over when updates are installed.
• Microsoft should provide detailed information on what’s in each update.

I’m happy to say that the petition now stands at just under 5,000 signatures. I’m hoping to see about ten times that many, ultimately. Or more.

These are simple, common-sense changes that should’ve been implemented months ago. But they haven’t. So we still need your help.

Please sign the petition.  Have your Windows-leaning friends sign it, too.

Click here for Windows or Office help

In the upper right corner of this page you’ll see a new tab, marked “Click here for Windows or Office help.” (If you have a better name, I’m all ears.)

I’m getting inundated with general help questions, and can’t keep up with answering all of them. That’s pretty typical, soon after a new book hits, and when Microsoft becomes unusually inscrutable.

Instead of starting an AskWoody forum (it’s just too much work!), I’m sending AskWoody visitors off in one of two directions. For general questions, I point to Eileen’s Lounge. (For those of you who have been around for a long time, you’ll realize that many of the key people at Eileen’s Lounge are, in fact, Woody’s Lounge refugees. In the early days, Eileen Wharmby was the driving force behind Woody’s Lounge.)

If you have a specific, well-honed question, it’s better if you go straight to the Microsoft Answers forum. That forum used to be far too Microsoft-politically-correct for my tastes. They’ve loosened up a lot, though. You’ll often find moderators there who are just as exasperated with Microsoft as many of us are.

Both of the groups are run by volunteers. Remember that, when you’re ready to tear Microsoft’s lungs out for some transgression.

For those who have asked, yes, I’ve severed all ties with Windows Secrets Newsletter. Brian Livingston and I built WSN years ago. It started in 2004 when Brian merged his “Brian’s Buzz on Windows” (founded 2003) with my “Woody’s Windows Watch” (founded 1998). The Windows Secrets Lounge was a re-branding of the old Woody’s Lounge (founded 1995). 

New owners and new policies have driven me from the fold. I still think the world of the crew at WSN — Susan Bradley, whom I quote and work with frequently, Fred Langa, editor Tracey Capen, Kathleen Atkins, Michael Lasky, Lincoln Spector — are fine people who turn out an excellent product. But the new owners, a conglomerate called Penton Technologies, leave me cold.

Time to turn over a new leaf….

Win10 Mail app really wants to use your calendar

This in from NAB:

Many thanks for an excellent ‘Windows 10 all-in-one for Dummies’ book.

You may already be aware of this in Windows 10 Home (pre-installed on a new Dell laptop), but if you go to Settings > Privacy > Calendar and switch the ‘Let apps use my calendar’ to off, the in-built mail app won’t sync any of the folders (including inbox) to the signed-in Microsoft Account email (@live.com). It similarly affected a Windows 365 (Microsoft Exchange) account used for work. No emails are received therefore, but bizarrely you can still send them from the app! Switching the setting back on allowed all emails through – discovered after much head-scratching and web browsing!

I didn’t know that. Interesting….

Reports of Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 problems proliferate

There are some fixes

InfoWorld Woody on Windows

Julie Larson-Green poised to take over Microsoft Office

This time, it’s for real.

InfoWorld Woody on Windows

What if you want Win10, but don’t have the “Get Windows 10” icon?

This in from reader SH:

Hi Woody,