Either that is a fault with Win 8 or you did NOT disable the 'update offer icon' process correctly at all, in spite of claiming to do so.

Or maybe Win 7 is actually the SUPERIOR OS in that when you decide how you want your updates it stays that way....and on that rubbish 8 the capacity is actually ALREADY LOST.

Shock-horror....maybe that devotion to 8 is ill-advised and misguided....

Hey Doc, ya forgot to add W95.

As with Jafo, every PC in my house, (and I have 4 running 8.1 and 2 running 7) has had the Get Windows icon removed, correctly, and hasn't returned.

No Windows Updates options for 10 either.

That said, while it is definitely evil for MS to try to sneak install 10, (which wouldn't happen anyway without your help), IF MS did miraculously get 10 installed without your knowledge, it takes less than 5 minutes to roll back. I have done the rollback thing and it works wonderfully.

I know, you shouldn't have to deal with that, I'm just saying.

We don't know that for sure...that's a supposition based on downloading installing W10 a different way. Don't forget who writes the code.

I sincerely hope they don't try that, and most probably they won't...but we'll find out.

Now that I know I'll be checking those updates too. Highlight each one and click on more information.

Uh, Win 8 is at fault, eh?  A nephew on Win 7 had his settings adjusted to automatic installs as well.... which BTW has nothing to do with the '10 icon'  It's a related but separate issue.  And yes, I did follow the Windows 8.1 instructions to remove said icon AND hide the pertinent updates.  As Wiz will tell you, the settings for updates were reset, thus allowing the icon to be reinstalled..  It is also a common complaint across the board... for Win 7 and 8 users.  N

Also, not everyone has been as lucky as you and RND in not getting the icon back, some users have had it return several times after removing it and hiding the 'get 10' updates.  However, since installing GWX Panel, which is designed to counter MS' aggressive tactics, I've seen neither the updates or the icon.

There is nothing wrong with Win 7 or 8, just MS' aggression and persistence to force, bait, cajole users into upgrading.  While millions have grabbed the 'free' lunch with both hands, there is a considerable few who don't want what Win 10 has to offer... which frankly, ain't much... as far as users are concerned.  The real benefits go to MS, and with the new 'walled garden' concept, MS stands to profit considerably as it manipulates its captive market to toe the company's line.

Like Doc said, Linux is looking better all the time.

Not on my sister's laptop.  Attempting the rollback [within the allotted time] returned an error message stating she did not have the right permissions, so not everyone is so lucky.   For many [novice to average] users, it'd mean they're stuck with a POS OS they don't want, and that's not how it should be

Uh, Win 8 is at fault, eh?  A nephew on Win 7 had his settings adjusted to automatic installs as well.... which BTW has nothing to do with the '10 icon'  It's a related but separate issue.  And yes, I did follow the Windows 8.1 instructions to remove said icon AND hide the pertinent updates.  As Wiz will tell you, the settings for updates were reset, thus allowing the icon to be reinstalled..  It is also a common complaint across the board... for Win 7 and 8 users. 

"Either that is a fault with Win 8 or you did NOT disable the 'update offer icon' process correctly at all, in spite of claiming to do so."

I stand firmly by that.  The  'fix' is NOT about just removing the icon ...it is about preventing the entire process.  The icon is just one KB, and it's the least important.

WHEN it is done correctly it does NOT return.

The fact it may be a 'common complaint' simply means again...either 8 is at fault or they and those on 7 cannot follow the process.

Okay, Paul, have it your way, I'm done arguing.

I'm fully aware that the kb update files are responsible for the icon's placement.  They WERE uninstalled/hidden to prevent future downloads.... in accordance with the Win 8.1 instructions provided by ghacks. 

However, I MUST have done it wrong.

Thing is, I know what happened on MY system and I'm sick of being told I'm an idiot.

Worked for me on 8.1 as well. No icon, no updates were reinstalled, and no Windows 10 being pushed.

It worked on all of my systems, however I cannot blindly assert all remained successful as 2 of them were quite soon after [matter of days] manually upgraded and thus the issue was moot, and one other I allowed to do the MS thing and annoy me with notices...[Terry's]

Starkers...no-one's calling you an idiot.  It is just that IF MS thought they had managed to push the icon and/or update configs to everyone no matter what they did and/or how they followed directions to avert it then they failed to do so because at least one system on the planet definitely did not change....and I expect the 2 others of mine if left as they were and not subsequently updated manually would still be as they were...

Yes, but did you have you update settings changed from manual to 'automatically install'?  Well I did, 3 -4 times, and therein lies the difference.... unwanted/hidden updates were able to be reinstalled.  Apparently, others [including Wiz] were having the problem, which is why GWX Panel was created... to prevent MS using such forceful tactics to push Win 10 where it wasn't wanted.  Since installing it my settings have remained as I set them... and no more 'nags' to get an OS I neither want or need.

1 - Sure felt like it, though. I've been tinkering with computers for 10 plus years now and reasonably know my way around the BIOS, Windows and the Registry, so I'm not exactly the PC illiterate novice when it comes to making such adjustments.  The fact that I performed the procedure 4 times AND disabled GWX in the Registry would suggest something was awry.... and that something was, I believe, a kb [not included in the original bunch] that allowed for my update settings to somehow be changed.  Thankfully, GWX Panel has ended that debacle - same for Wiz, apparently - and I'm free of the hassle.

2 - You can expect it, but what if MS does as it did to me and others... change the update settings to redownload AND install those unwanted/hidden updates?  It does happen... maybe not to you.... as yet... but it can and does happen.

Anyway, that is all I have to say on the matter.  I've had just 4 - 5 hours sleep in the past 3 days [vertigo, arthritic pain, etc] and too I'm knackered to be bothered with it anymore.

No automatic install, EVER, on any rig of mine.

I have never used the automatic install option, it seems now that it makes a whole lot of sense.   

I found that Windows 10 icon in my system tray awhile back and went looking for way it was there and a way to get rid of it...sorry...don't remember the link to it...but it gave me these updates to uninstall and it worked. But they still keep trying to sneak it in other updates...so I keep checking each time I update.

KB2876229 SKYPE
KB2977728
KB2978092
KB2994023
KB3075249
KB3080149
KB2923545 RDP
KB2970228
KB3035583
KB2990214
KB3021917
KB3068708 Telemetry
KB2592687
KB2660075
KB2506928
KB2952664 x2
KB3050265
KB2726535
KB3022345 Replaced by KB3068708 Telemetry (Caused false sfc result)
KB2545698 (IE9)
KB3065987

The business/corporate environment and the politics/civics environments are intimately entwined.  What becomes permissible in the civic arena strongly influences what business models become 'acceptable.'  I'm not wishing to start a political 'discussion.'  Merely to point out that as the political/economic climate in the U$A and the West becomes ever more favorable to the larger economic powers, (and less favorable to the small fry), business models will follow that trend, reflecting the same approaches that have recently become more acceptable.  Few (if any?) western corporation would even consider such tactics (with first world citizens) 40 years ago.  Now its 'OK' unless 99% of the people demand and protest.  And they don't.