StarDestroyer.Net BBS

What’s odd, however, is that even if Windows 10 is indeed marked as a recommended update, it should still prompt you to begin the install, so users are still supposed to be allowed to choose whether to deploy it or not. Terry Myerson, head of the OS group at Microsoft, warned in October that this could happen though.

“Depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device. Before the upgrade changes the OS of your device, you will be clearly prompted to choose whether or not to continue,” he said.

Yep, went afk and saw this message box that said something like "Your update is ready! Restarting and installing in 13 minutes". If I made myself a meal or watched tv, I would have had windows 10. Oh, and the best part is how they hid the "Decline" button in the more info button.

The upgrade [also] happens to domain joined pro versions of the OS. The only OS that is immune is Enterprise, which isn't common even in business due to its cost.

We've been getting calls trickling in all week from doctor's offices, dental practices, B&Bs, and roofing companies -- among others -- that have been hit by this and it's a fucking mess.

In some cases the upgrade went OK and the user is just really confused. In others Windows 10 is asking for a login password the user set years ago and hasn't used since, that was fun. In still another it's screwed up access to their shared folders.

I'm >this< close to telling the techs to disable automatic updates completely for all business customers.

Purple wrote:A question. If you disable automatic updates completely are you safe from updating forever?

JUST WHEN YOU thought Microsoft had stooped as low as it could with Updategate, along comes another low blow. This time it's an advertising payload hidden in a security patch.

First discovered by Woody Leonhard at InfoWorld, this month's KB3139929 security fix issued as part of Patch Tuesday has a trojan horse inside - KB3146449 - under the rather vague explanation of "several non-security-related fixes for Internet Explorer".

What this actually does is makes Internet Explorer display a blue banner on the new tab page which says: 'Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 10.'

What makes it even more spectacular is that it is in no way separate from the security patch - you uninstall the security patch or keep the ad-generating payload.

You know what, Microsoft? We're calling it. You're infecting your customers' PCs with software over which they have no control and, worse still, could actually be worse off for not installing.

Basically, this is adware. Adware is a type of virus. As such, you are now hacking your own customers. It has to stop. Every time there's a line to cross, Windows 10 seems to cross it. Microsoft, you have actually become downright evil.

We said at the time of the launch that there was something unsettling and Orwellian about the way Satya Nadella sold us Windows 10. By golly were we right.

KB3146449 doesn't appear in your update history. The only way you can tell if you've got it is the banner appearing. The only way of stopping it is not to install the update. That's megalomania.

Oh, and one more thing that Leonhard spotted. If your machine is on a domain you won't get this payload - only if you're an individual.

This means that the people with the big bucks - the corporations - have no reason to complain while the little guy gets kicked in the craw.

Remember: these aren't Windows 10 customers, so the 'well that's what you get for free' rule doesn't apply. These are the people who haven't upgraded yet, the ones who paid for the operating system.

We've asked Microsoft for comment, but the corporate excuse-bot is getting a bit tiresome now.

Lord Revan wrote:if any spyware Win10 has is easy enough to disable the question is can I run things like STO or WoW if I upgrade as it's starting to become too much work to avoid the upgrade.

Elheru Aran wrote:The other day I turned on the computer, and clicked on the W10 update thing by accident.

It comes up and tells me it's gone ahead and scheduled an automatic change-over to W10. What the fuck. I killed that as soon as I could, but I don't like that.

My wife's pushing me to just go ahead and change over too. She doesn't buy the whole issue with privacy and doesn't care about how MS is being a shit, because she's not a techy person. Apparently all the computers at her work have changed over already and she doesn't care. So I'm a bit concerned that I'm going to come home one of these days and see W10 sitting pretty on the monitor...

Tribble wrote:In addition to what others have said, privacy is a big issue as well. Of course, other versions of windows have probably been sending all your info to MS but WIndows 10 is the most brazen about it. By default pretty much everything you do is recorded, logged, and sent to MS, including keystrokes and even voice recordings (if you have Cortana enabled). You have to wade through several screens to turn all that crap off, and there have been a couple occasions where I've noticed that after an update some of the settings were set to on again. Oh, and btw, a couple of the settings can only be switched off from an external website. And that's assuming the settings actually work as intended, there's some evidence suggesting that Windows 10 is sending some of the data anyways.

Also by default Windows 10 uses your internet connection to download copies of WIndows 10 onto other computers. Ya.

The user agreement has some... interesting features. Take privacy for example:

"We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to protect our customers or enforce the terms governing the use of the services."

Do you want to rely on Microsoft's "good faith"? I don't think previous versions of Windows had a catch-all like that.

Or how about intellectual property rights?

"When you share Your Content with other people, you expressly agree that anyone you’ve shared Your Content with may, for free and worldwide, use, save, record, reproduce, transmit, display, communicate … Your Content. If you do not want others to have that ability, do not use the Services to share Your Content.”

“you grant Microsoft a worldwide and royalty free intellectual property licence to use Your Content, for example, to make copies of, retain, transmit, reformat, distribute via communication tools and display Your Content on the Services. If you publish Your Content in areas of the Service where it is rendered available online publicly or without restrictions, Your Content may appear in demonstrations or materials that promote the Service.”

Again, not sure about the agreement in previous versions of Windows, though I haven't found anything yet to suggest they are as extensive as that.

Based on the user agreement I've been advised not to use Windows 10 as I would be at serious risk of breaching client privilege.

And let's talk about the updates. In Windows 10 all updates and upgrades are mandatory, and if you're stuck with 10 Home they are downloaded and installed the moment they become available. Updates in 10 Pro are also downloaded and installed immediately, though you can "defer" an upgrade for an unspecified amount of time. Don't want to be a guinea pig? Too bad. Have software / hardware that suddenly becomes unusable due to an update? Too bad - if you roll back the update which caused the problem, Win 10 will apparently keep downloading and installing the update over and over again. Don't want new features which bloat your computer / slow it down / spy on you? Too bad - again, everything is mandatory, whether you like it or not.

For most users I doubt this matters much, but I'm not a fan of it.

Elheru Aran wrote:The other day I turned on the computer, and clicked on the W10 update thing by accident.

It comes up and tells me it's gone ahead and scheduled an automatic change-over to W10. What the fuck. I killed that as soon as I could, but I don't like that.

Ace Pace wrote:Can someone please explain to me what is the issue?

Your phone has the exact same "spyware".

So does your browser (if you use one of the big 3).

Broomstick wrote:

Ace Pace wrote:So does your browser (if you use one of the big 3).

My browser doesn't riffle through my personal data files.

Zaune wrote:Um... what?

I'm sorry, Tribble, but could you show us where you found the parts of the EULA you quoted? Because even as a fully paid-up member of the Glorious Linux Master Race I find it a bit hard to believe Microsoft is that idiotically short-sighted. Can you imagine the shitstorm that would erupt if they actually tried to enforce it? There'd be literal riots!

Lord Revan wrote:if any spyware Win10 has is easy enough to disable the question is can I run things like STO or WoW if I upgrade as it's starting to become too much work to avoid the upgrade.

Sinewmire wrote:Windows 10 installed itself on my PC last week, whilst I had nipped out to the shops. I am informed that my printer is not supported, and no new drivers will be forthcoming. Thanks Microsoft.

U.P. Cinnabar wrote:Microsoft has been a force for evil for over three decades. Why are people surprised now by the arrogant, shitty things it does?

DaveJB wrote:Over the last decade or so there seems to have been an effort by people to portray Microsoft as some sort of benevolent monopoly (I'm guessing to make Apple look worse by comparison). And to be fair, MS's behaviour in recent years has for the most part been better than it was in the 90s and early 00s, assuming you consider Windows 8 to be an act of incompetence rather than malice. Now, I guess they've gotten nostalgic for the days when they were truly epic dicks.

Edi wrote:For those who wish to remain with Windows 7, there is a utility called the GWX Control Panel that keeps the nuisance out of your machines. Worth checking out at least, but the commenters at The Register at least had had quite some success with it.