Microsoft recently started automatically scheduling upgrades to Windows 10 for some users.
This was after the software giant pushed the update to users on older versions of its operating system as a “recommended update”.
The Internet Society in China has accused Microsoft of abusing its dominant market position and breaking “the market order for fair play”.
Reports suggest that some users have even taken the drastic step of disabling critical updates to avoid downloading the Windows 10 upgrade.
This may leave your PC open to attack if you don’t manually install security updates.
If you do not want to install Windows 10, you can use one of the workarounds detailed below.
Hide the upgrade notification
If you haven’t registered for and claimed your Windows 10 upgrade, you can hide the upgrade notification.
The instructions are detailed on Microsoft’s support site.
- Right-click the Taskbar, and then select Properties.
- On the Taskbar tab, go down to the Notification area and select Customize.
- In the Notification Area Icons window, for the GWX icon, select Hide icon and notifications.
Unschedule your update
The above measures only work if you haven’t registered for and scheduled your update.
Microsoft also provides instructions for how to cancel your upgrade to Windows 10.
- Click on the “Get Windows 10” icon.
- Follow the instructions to reschedule or cancel your Windows 10 upgrade
- Confirm that you want to cancel your Windows 10 upgrade.
- A final reminder will also appear 15 minutes before the scheduled upgrade. This is a chance to cancel your Windows 10 upgrade before your system reboots automatically.
Install Never10
Microsoft has also released instructions on how to comprehensively disable the Windows 10 update with a series of commands and registry tweaks.
Never10 offers a convenient way to implement Microsoft’s instructions. It is free, and may be downloaded from the website of Gibson Research Corporation.
If Never10 isn’t hardcore enough, try GWX Control Panel
If you don’t trust following Microsoft’s recommendations, you can try GWX Control Panel.
It is available from the Ultimate Outsider website, and promises to constantly monitor your PC for attempts to upgrade it to Windows 10.
Switch to Linux
There are many distributions of Linux available, one of which is bound to suit your needs. Gaming on Linux is also not nearly as terrible as it used to be.
Buy a Mac
Apple has never automatically scheduled OS X upgrades for its users. Just sayin’. And if you need Windows, your Mac can deliver:
This article first appeared on MyBroadband and was republished with permission.
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I have been a happy OSX user for over a decade and only now starting to like Windows with Win 10. So let me just add, as a happy OSX user, that the last option they mentioned is even more stupid than “if you don’t want to upgrade your current version of Windows then install Linux instead”.
Swopping to a whole new OS just because you don’t want the latest version of your existing OS is stupid. Those people who paid for apps like Photoshop will have to buy all their licenses again… if that app has a Linux version to start with, or learn a new app completely. It’s just stupid…
But to say “Just buy a Mac. At least then you have OSX and if you still need Windows then you can install Windows on your Mac” that is just the most stupid thing to say ever. All you are telling people is “If you don’t want to install Windows 10, just buy yourself a 12″ laptop for R25,000 and install Windows 10 on that. Problem solved”
Man… what happened to the days when people had common sense or just knew how to think?