Well, it's happening. Microsoft has added Windows 10 to the list of recommended updates for Windows 7 and 8.1 users. That means if you've got a Windows PC and you're perfectly happy with the operating system you chose, bought and payed for a few years back then you may wake up to an unwelcome surprise soon. That is if you've got Windows Update set up to automatically install updates.
Thankfully you can get around this by entering your control panel, choosing System and Security, then clicking on Windows Update. From there you can change settings to let you decide what's installed on your PC. I'd personally recommend "let me choose when to download and install updates" as the automatic download isn't exactly small and will suck up your bandwidth if set to anything else besides "never check for updates".
For the record here, it's still advised to install security updates and the like to keep things flowing normally, but if you don't want to walk in to a room after refilling your coffee cup and see that you have a new OS installing, I'd recommend unchecking the one that says Windows 10 before confirming any installations. If you -do- get caught in the auto upgrade, you'll have 31 days to choose to reverse the action.
Also here's how to stop that annoying little nagware popup telling you your free copy of Windows 10 awaits.
- Open the Registry Editor (search for regedit in the Start Menu and run it).
- Set DisableOSUpgrade to 1 in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
- Set ReservationsAllowed to 0 in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\OSUpgrade
Furthermore, if your reason for not updating to Windows 10 is the fact that it spies on basically everything you do... Well Windows 7 and 8.1 have been doing that for quite a while now, so they're just as bad. Bigger reasons to avoid the upgrade are things like these:
- Your PC is optimized to run it's current OS, not Windows 10. Things could bog down, you may see tons of errors etc.
- Your PC is old/unsupported by Windows 10. Microsoft doesn't care about that, they'll still install Windows 10 for you and it could brick your machine potentially costing you money to have it reverted to your previous OS.
- Your PC is running software that cost you loads of money and will not be supported by Windows 10. Again, Microsoft doesn't care and you may not be able to use that software any more.