MANDATORY change of OS

newbury · Mar 10, 2016

I feel that I've been hijacked.
I've been running W8.1 since I bought the computer.
Today I got the pop up window
"Windows Update" - Schedule your upgrade
And it has to be done in the next 4 days.

A quick trip on the web and all I can find quickly are very complicated ways to circumvent the process and many stories of those not working.

Has anyone here found a way around this mandatory change?

s219 · Mar 10, 2016

Mandatory? Don't you own the computer?

RBLapham · Mar 10, 2016

I still get the pop up's about win 10 but it will not load it since I went into control panel and on Windows Updates I changed the settings so it will always ask me before doing any updates. Have not found a way to stop the pop ups

Howling · Mar 10, 2016

There are a bunch of ways to block the windows 10 upgrades. For non-technical user the easiest is probably the GWX Control panel. Information and download at Ultimate Outsider: Using GWX Control Panel to Permanently Remove the 'Get Windows 10' Icon

If it does upgrade you to windows 10 you have 30 days to roll it back. There many step by step instructions online for doing the rollback. I have done the rollback for a couple clients so far. It is fairly straight forward.

I have done the registry patches on my computers to keep them at Windows 7. Except old XP laptop and new Windows 10 laptop.

Clay45 · Mar 10, 2016

I received an offer to get a free upgrade to Windows 10. Is it possible that the 4 days was until the Free Offer expires?

At some point a link led me to a Microsoft site where I could download the upgrade to Windows 10 rather than wait for their email and I did. It has its quirks but no worse than other Windows versions as far as I can tell. Big brother is definitely present. Resistance is futile.

flusher · Mar 10, 2016

I get this message every few weeks. I just click it away. So far Microsoft has not installed W10 on my PC without my OK.

Handloader109 · Mar 12, 2016

Ha! I tried three times to upgrade my laptop and it failed each time. My desktop did upgrade after I told it to upgrade later. I've had issues with an older hp printer ever since the upgrade, and I really didn't want the upgrade. If you have win 8 I might consider 10.