For those wishing to prevent Win 10 being installed on their systems, there is this article over at majorgeeks.  Never 10 is a new utility that can either disable or enable the Win 10 upgrade with just one click.

Frankly, however, I have decided to stop fighting it.  Previous OSes will lose support in the not too distant future, so I may as well concede defeat and get Win 10 on my 3 - 4 other rigs for 'free'.  In short, I'm sick and tired of finding new ways to foil MS' attempts to push 10 on me, just for them to circumvent my efforts every time.

This, however, does NOT mean I like Win 10.  I much prefer Win 8.1, but maintaining it on a net-connected PC is becoming more and more difficult.... and like they say, if you can't beat 'em......

Never 10 is a good app which is actively maintained, and thanks for adding, Mark.

I agree

I'm not meaning to hijack.  If MS has indeed changed the "x" to mean yes, I want this; and since it is universally understood to mean the opposite, "NO,"  then why hasn't anyone brought legal action against Microsoft-gate? And where is Anonymous now? Talk about an appropriate target...

Elana, most people think that by simply closing that little window, they're saying "No"...but they aren't: The little window is telling them they've been scheduled for a date and time. They have to find the link and decline.

There is a great article on gHacks.com about Microsoft's insistence on upgrading people to Windows 10 and a lot of folks are angry over their aggressive methods. Having had my own bit of fun and excitement with the 1511 build, I have plunged into total insanity and joined the Insider Program.  If anything like that happens again, I will be in a better position to make it known to Microsoft. Of course, I am probably deluding myself but at last I might be able to help make things a little better by becoming part of the solution. 

In the meantime, Never 10 is a great option for those who wish to remain with Windows 7.  I confess that there have been several days when I wish I had stayed with Win 7 too.  I was part of the Windows 7 Insider Program and loved it right from the start.  I am trying hard to like Windows 10 but I find myself spending too much time in group policy editor and/or PowerShell fixing settings that used to be so simple. I will let you all know how it goes.   

Got it Doc, thanks. I'm fine here but have a couple friends that this will help greatly. Of course I have to install it for them. No problem.

That's okay, Seth, anything to support the cause...er, thread.

As for my capitulation, conceding defeat, MS ensured it was inevitable.  Despite programs like GWX Control Panel and Never 10, Microsoft has been enabling Win 10 upgrades via Scheduled Maintenance rather than Windows Update.... a method I believe has not as yet been addressed by 3rd party developers.   In fact, I'm not sure that they can, being that Scheduled Maintenance is probably performed separately via a closed/encrypted MS channel.   I may be wrong about this, but I don't know how else to explain the following....

I had 'Never 10' and 'GWX Control Panel' installed on the 2nd of my big beasties with Win 8.1 installed, yet it rebooted with Windows 10 two mornings ago... thus circumventing both programs, which I believe act like some kind of firewall that prevents MS downloading/activating Win 10 on one's PC.  As Scheduled Maintenance is a different process that interacts directly between MS and the OS, these 3rd party programs won't be completely effective in preventing Win 10 installing until they are updated [if possible] to disable installation via Scheduled Maintenance.

I've also heard from a few friends, etc, that the 'roll back' function has either been disabled/greyed out, or worked okay but was reversed a few days later to restore Win 10.  I had both instances happen to me, so yeah, I believe this is happening to people.  Such is the aggression of Microsoft to roll Win 10 out to over a billion devices by 2020, people are not being given a choice... and for mine, there has to be something illegal in what they're doing.  For a start, I doubt there is anything in the TOU or EULA of either Win 7 or Win 8.1 that states users are obliged to upgrade to any future OS.  Secondly, the physical/hardware component of the PC is the property of the user, much like his or her home, meaning that MS is guilty of breaking and entering/unlawful entry/burglary... or of hacking and vandalism at the least.

In a nutshell, Microsoft has become the tech bully boy of the world and has made many enemies through its tactics.  Me?  I wouldn't say I'm an enemy, but I sure as hell don't like what they're doing.  As for the 12 months free then $119 thereafter,, being that Windows was never its biggest money spinner anyway, Win 10 should remain free indefinitely to show good... er, better faith on MS part.  Moreover,. MS should allow people to move to Win 10 in their own good time... to show EVEN BETTER faith.

At least Microsoft is giving us something to discuss. I am a bit bored with tech right now, but Microsoft is a "fun" topic. Unless you are affected by their criminal (in my opinion) tactics.

My father is on Windows 7. He doesn't care about software. I disabled Windows Update service, because viruses/ransomware I don't worry about that much (back-up has been made).

Thinking about the future I did a clone of his OS that I upgraded to Windows 10. But unless Microsoft changes behaviour I am not sure I want him on Windows 10. Windows Update has become a source of uncertainty. They can literally change anything they want and maintaining Windows 10 seems like a lot of work. Disabling updates is not a solution in the long run.

Now PlayStore is coming to ChromeOS. I am thinking this would be easy to maintain. My father would probably prefer Windows, because he is used to that and it's a more powerful OS.

But I am thinking ChromeOS with PlayStore is a game-changer. I wouldn't want to use it myself, but for most people it would be "enough". Microsoft has to watch out.

Overall I am sad about the state of software. We have software that works, but we get it from large corporations and everything is very controlled. I don't see Linux as an option for my father, because sooner or later he will want to do something which requires Windows, OSX or Android. ChromeOS with PlayStore takes care of the Android requirement.

Is it better to be in the hands of Google than Microsoft? Right now I would say yes. This aggression from Microsoft, I don't get it. When PlayStore comes to ChromeOS most casual computer users actually have a choice. They don't have to use Windows 10.

I think a lot of people are willing to trade the power of Windows for something less complicated like ChromeOS with PlayStore. They already mostly use their smartphone anyway. When Google seems like the nicer guy, you know Microsoft is doing something wrong. I am actually a little excited watching how this plays out.

You might consider WinPatrol as it will warn you when a new exe is trying to load...and it has excellent potential for stopping ransomware by doing so.

Just curious, Starkers -

Did you have "Give me Recommended Updates the same way I receive Important Updates" checked in your Windows Update settings?  And was the GWXCP monitor running on that rig?

It would be very interesting, not to mention infuriating, to learn that MS is actively subverting use of Never10 & GWXCP to push an automatic upgrade.

I never downloaded the win10 protocol updates so I haven't yet been bothered. My son however, woke up pissed this morning with win10 installed on his computer. He was able to restore WIN7.

No, I did not have Recommended Updates installed.  In fact, I had Windows Update disabled until I was ready to install updates.... and no, GWX was not on the rig.  It was disabled and uninstalled using GWX Control Panel.  That's the annoying thing about it, all my preventative measures were sidestepped and Win 10 could only have been downloaded and installed during Scheduled maintenance.  That's why I quit fighting it, MS has all the answers and the technology to implement them.

I still have one Win 8.1 machine, but it isn't connected to the net and may never be, just in case the same thing happens again.

Lucky for him, quite a few people in know are complaining that they cannot roll back, that the button is greyed out.  Thing is, others are complaining that the roll back doesn't stick and Win 10 is installed again later on..  It's not that it didn't stick, however.  No, it's MS not respecting users wishes and forcing the update by any means possible.

Nice thread, Seth!  K for you!

If you're having trouble in that windows is downloading unwanted things one way to prevent it is by using Netlimiter. The advantage of it over a firewall is that you can be specific on an actual connection-speed of any process that there is - for example, for Windows Update to check for new updates 5kb/s is enough - but ofc it's nowhere near sufficient to dl a new OS^^ at least, not overnight, and this is buying you enough time to become aware of any foul play going on and stopping it manually.

Ofc you could completely disable all Win communication although IIRC you need to spare one (or more) win-processes otherwise the inet conn will also break down with it.

Secondly, only update manually. There are some updates (here on Win7) which are nagware, for example KB2952664 which every hour prompts to upgrade the OS.