Micro$oft up to its old tricks again...

[AussieMan]

Once again shakes his head and walks away.

[TuFun]

http://betanews.com/2016/05/24/be-an...or-windows-10/

[KellyB]

http://betanews.com/2016/05/24/be-an...or-windows-10/

Amen, and Q.E.D.

About the guys installing windows on the house; at least they would be easy pickin's and a target-rich scenario.

Win 7 and Linux Redmond can now fall into a suddenly opening crevasse and die. It won't, but it should.

[wombat666]

OMG, it feels so much easier now that I know I don't have to be the only one on the only network... to broadcast to the world that MS is nothing more than a bunch of low-life scanks...

Microsoft are just operating within the 'Normal Corporate Environment' that exists today.
We might not like it but it is what it is.

[Terry]

This might come in handy to control the snoops.

http://www.komando.com/downloads/332...-on-windows-10

[joe bob]

Not sure if I'm getting all this anti Microsoft drama..
I'm sure Google knows a lot more about us, Gmail, search, Facebook, etc. I'm sure that those Android users amongst us also just allow updates to happen. Our GPS tracks wherever we are, our mobiles do as well.

So, I'm actually quite happy having the latest software that is optimized for modern hardware. Works for me.

Every thing you mention is something you chose.
Win 10 may be the choice for some but MS is pushing hard to force it on the consumer whether they want it or not.
One has to actively work to not have it. That is the biggest issue, not Win 7 vs 10.

[KellyB]

Not sure if I'm getting all this anti Microsoft drama..
I'm sure Google knows a lot more about us, Gmail, search, Facebook, etc. I'm sure that those Android users amongst us also just allow updates to happen. Our GPS tracks wherever we are, our mobiles do as well.

So, I'm actually quite happy having the latest software that is optimized for modern hardware. Works for me.

It is precisely your "not getting" it that M$oft is relying on. That, and the investment millions of people have in software which will only run in the windows environment. Because of these two things, Redmond is able to force itself upon us, even when we don't know about it, and gather any and all information they care to and do whatever they want with it.

You choose to use Gmail, Facebook and the like. There are other options. Not so for the poor souls who have had win10 crammed up their keisters, many times unbeknownst to them. If the federal government was using such, ought-to-be-illegal tactics, NPR and their colleagues would be all over it and up in arms.

And about that latest software that is optimized: Evidently you haven't heard those here whose software was trashed.

Oh, well. We get what we deserve because we simply accept it like the frog in the pan of water.

[n4gix]

Dave, a lot of the software I use simply will not run under Win10. For that matter some won't even run under Win7 either. I have to keep a WinXP machine running for certain older Kenwood and Motorola radio programming suites.

So yeah, for me it's a Very Big Deal.

I should also add that it's a Very Big Deal to every Motorola, Kenwood, Macom/Harris, and Icom service station in the bloody world! There are millions of "legacy radios" still in use, and the programming software for them is ancient, and will never be 'updated' for any modern version of Windows. Some few still require DOS v3.1 for heaven's sake!

[Ivan]

Every thing you mention is something you chose.
Win 10 may be the choice for some but MS is pushing hard to force it on the consumer whether they want it or not.
One has to actively work to not have it. That is the biggest issue, not Win 7 vs 10.

You must be referring to the constant nagging to "Upgrade" to Windows 10....

We HAD a Vista machine before it died a bit over a year ago.
We have a couple operational Windows 7 machines.
This machine I am on is a Windows 8.1.
My daughter's new machine is a Windows 10. Another OS was not an option for this machine.
I hated Vista at the time but it seems after the fact to be the best of all the options.

The Nag software is actually an optional update for Windows 7 and 8.
After having disabled it and deleted it and having it constantly come back,
we now choose to download ONLY Windows Updates. No optional updates.
We choose WHEN to install the updates. (Don't like the machines shutting down while we are working.)
The Nag ware hasn't come back for months now.

If the nagging bothers you, I suggest you configure updates like we do.

- Ivan.

[Ivan]

I should also add that it's a Very Big Deal to every Motorola, Kenwood, Macom/Harris, and Icom service station in the bloody world! There are millions of "legacy radios" still in use, and the programming software for them is ancient, and will never be 'updated' for any modern version of Windows. Some few still require DOS v3.1 for heaven's sake!

Then I take it that you have at least one set of installation disks for prior systems?
I have them going back to Windows 95 at least and maybe even as far back as some version of DOS.
They have come in handy at times.

- Ivan.

[joe bob]

You must be referring to the constant nagging to "Upgrade" to Windows 10....

We HAD a Vista machine before it died a bit over a year ago.
We have a couple operational Windows 7 machines.
This machine I am on is a Windows 8.1.
My daughter's new machine is a Windows 10. Another OS was not an option for this machine.
I hated Vista at the time but it seems after the fact to be the best of all the options.

The Nag software is actually an optional update for Windows 7 and 8.
After having disabled it and deleted it and having it constantly come back,
we now choose to download ONLY Windows Updates. No optional updates.
We choose WHEN to install the updates. (Don't like the machines shutting down while we are working.)
The Nag ware hasn't come back for months now.

If the nagging bothers you, I suggest you configure updates like we do.

- Ivan.

I have it taken care of (so far) but what you mention is all part of the effort one must make to not have this thrust upon them.
It is not a question of can I avoid it, I should not have to fend it off.
An operating system should be something you chose, not alter how you update or otherwise defend against installation.
It is the business practice of a company who takes your patronage as a given.

[gman5250]

Internet II 101 course.
Why CEO's don't care if your OS is proprietary to you. Amazon is worse than Reddit...but fundamentally the same.

Predictive programing algorithms like the ones that drive Amazon, Reddit and others derive their data from ops like Facebook "games", and all of your online activity...purchases or otherwise. Amazon is so advanced, they know your purchase choice before you do and in a 95+ percentile, have your product packaged before you place the order...based on your online search history.

Your OS is prioritized to function as an AI that feeds data back out to hubs like the one owned by this smug little "snowflake" in the video.

When Mr. Leaming has to run multiple systems just to produce his product, or my Forward from GMAX is now obsolete in Win10 compelling me to find time consuming workarounds to convert my (extensive) early modeling to 3DS Max, I arrive at the observation that MS, Schmidt, Zuckerberg and the rest have gone a bridge too far. Sorry.

I'm in agreement with Mr. Leaming...it is a "big deal".

[zswobbie1]

It is precisely your "not getting" it that M$oft is relying on.

And about that latest software that is optimized: Evidently you haven't heard those here whose software was trashed.

Oh, well. We get what we deserve because we simply accept it like the frog in the pan of water.

Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones. Nothing of mine got trashed when I upgraded my Windows 7 and my Windows 8.1 laptops. I lost nothing and everything worked from the start.

[Daveroo]

let me ask,if everything is so under the board as my dad and his buddy would say,why hasnt law enforcement stepped in?..if the NSA can get "busted" for what some see as spying,and others see as protecting,why is MS so seemingly untouchable?...someone out there in LE land surely must not be on their payroll,and would be able to atleast look into all these accusations of not just merely "spying" on the masses but also collecting data?..

again,im not trying to start a fight,i want understand.just seems to me,after reading all the posts and links,that if what everyone is saying...well im not a cop..but what i do know about the law...seems to me they are committing several crimes,eula or not.if i came up with a program that openly spys on my neighbors,even if theyve signed a "contract" agreeing to allow me to spy on them,if the eula was written in such a way that non-spys wouldnt understand,id be locked up and the key thrown away...ok,what i just typed may seem far fetched,and the masses might tell me i should learn to understand it (the eula) or not use a computer....but is life really that way?..i mean computers are no longer a "toy" ,yes i know they never were,theyre tools for business,but in my case it is a toy,i use them to play games...whoops..simulators..and to play on the internet,i do infact use my banks website,but there is no personal information on my PC that cant be attained by anyone anyway.

well hell,, i know what i mean...but bottomline..why cant law enforcement stop them if what theyre doing is so nasty??....should we all ban together and start class action suits? im sure thats covered in the eula,but if they are 'stealing" personal information,without actually spelling out that fact in clear wording so it can be understood without a lawyer to decipher it,isnt it a crime?....again,if i did that,burying the truth to my crime in wording that people would go.."oh yes that sounds good to me" and sign away,allowing me to actually commit my crime,wouldnt that also be a crime?....


now ive gone and confused myself.....

[wombat666]

Confused me as well!

[TuFun]

Do you even have a choose not to install Win 10 or not? That's the problem.

For months now, I’ve complained about the software giant’s heavy-handed tactics in trying to trick customers into upgrading to Windows 10. But a recent change to the Get Windows 10 advertisement that is forced on Windows 7 and 8.1 users takes things entirely too far. This is indefensible.


Frankly, this entire episode has been indefensible, with Microsoft introducing a non-stoppable, non-hideable advertisement on several hundred million PCs from around the world. And then upgrading that advertisement to thwart those who do seek to remove or hide it. It has changed the language of the ad, made no clear cancel choice available, and jammed it into the “recommended” updates that auto-install via Windows Update. If you read this site, listen to Windows Weekly or What the Tech, you know how bad things are. It’s been a constant refrain.


Well, I’ve had it.


Last week, Microsoft silently changed Get Windows 10 yet again. And this time, it has gone beyond the social engineering scheme that has been fooling people into inadvertently upgrading to Windows 10 for months. This time, it actually changed the behavior of the window that appears so that if you click the “Close” window box, you are actually agreeing to the upgrade. Without you knowing what just happened.


Previously, closing this window would correctly signal that you do not want the upgrade. So Microsoft didn’t change the wording in the window. It didn’t make an “Upgrade now” button bigger, or a non-existent “don’t ever upgrade” button smaller. It pulled a switcheroonie. It’s like going out to your car in the morning and discovering that the gas pedal now applies the brakes, while the brake pedal washes the windshield. Have a fun commute!


The violation of trust here is almost indescribable. It’s bad enough that Microsoft has been training Windows 7 and 8.1 users—i.e. most Windows users—to not trust Windows 10 because of this horrible, unstoppable advertisement. But now they will not trust their own sanity because all they’ll remember is that they dismissed the advertisement by clicking the Close windows box. Why on earth did Windows 10 just install on my PC?!?

Why on earth, indeed. Coupled with the growth of clean personal computing platforms like Chromebooks and Macs, and the fact that Microsoft can’t convince its own PC maker partners to not ruin the Windows experience with crapware, one has to wonder: Is this all part of some plan to destroy Windows from within? I mean, seriously. You couldn’t write a dumber story about how to ruin something that is otherwise as wonderful as Windows 10.


My God, Microsoft. Just stop. Paul Thurrott

https://www.thurrott.com/windows/win...ing-windows-10

[PRB]

So "GWX" is now basically indistinguishable from malware. Classy.

[WarHorse47]

Interesting discussion.

After struggling to control my Window Updates and catching an unwanted update to Windows 10, I now have GWX Control Panel install on my Windows 8.1 and the wife's
Windows 7.0 machines. It's done a good job at catching some of those unwanted updates linked to Windows 10.

As a result of this discussion I checked the website and discovered there was an updated version of GWX Control Panel the end of March. Upon updating both machines, I noted some changes in the update process. I had my machine to check for updates, but let me decide what - that was changed somehow, so now its secure. The wife's machine was set to an automatic update (which I did not select), so that is now back to where I can control the updates.

BTW, the latest recommended M$ updates included two related to Windows 10 which I promptly hid. Even if I didn't hide them, GWX would have alerted me and given me an option to avoid them.

I'm going to fight as long as I can to prevent Windows 10 for getting installed on either my current computers. My intent is to wait until I get a new computer, and get one with Windows 10 already installed. I figured at that point I would have to reinstall my important software anyways and would have to figure out as I go what works and what doesn't, including my flight sims. I learned the hard way in migrating to Windows 8.0 that some older applications just will not work, so I had the added expense of upgrading (e.g., purchasing new) software.

[gman5250]

let me ask,if everything is so under the board as my dad and his buddy would say,why hasnt law enforcement stepped in?..if the NSA can get "busted" for what some see as spying,and others see as protecting,why is MS so seemingly untouchable?...someone out there in LE land surely must not be on their payroll,and would be able to atleast look into all these accusations of not just merely "spying" on the masses but also collecting data?..

Dave, you’ve actually hit the answer directly on the head without knowing it. I’ll try to explain.

NSA is supposed to operate under strict guidelines, which they say that they adhere to. I would suggest that you Google a gentleman named William Binney and listen to any of his interviews on the subject to get a better perspective of what actually happens at NSA.

Here’s the tricky bit that the agencies and corporations use to get around the law and your rights.

When you agree to the Microsoft EULA, you accept the terms of the contract. In this case you have agreed to accept the terms offered by Microsoft Inc. When you are dealing with a corporation you are under the jurisdiction of Admiralty or Maritime law, which has nothing to do with Common Law or original Constitutional Law prior to 1859.

So…to answer your question, law enforcement takes on an entirely different function in the area of the “commerce”.

To take on Microsoft you would first need to
1. Find a law enforcement agency to investigate a specific charge.
2. Find cause to pursue an indictment for that charge.
3. Find a prosecutor to file the charges in a court who will hear the case.
4. Obtain a judgement in favor of the complaint.

A corporation with the assets and, more importantly political influence, will draw your case out for years until you use up your resources to pursue your complaint.

Let’s use Ted’s example from this post.

Microsoft has coded a pop up to install Windows 10. This is an offer to contract.

You don’t want it so you say no. You have declined the offer to contract.

But lo and behold, the guy who created the button got one tiny thing wrong in the code. He inserted a 1=yes where there should be a 0=no. Simple mistake.

The pop up goes out to hundreds of millions of potential users instantaneously. Let’s say half of them say no, but the software sees it as a yes.

Presto…mission accomplished when you are using the tactics that TF is so angry about…me too.
OK, so now a percentage of those people are angry enough to file the class action suit.

Jeopardy music……………laa deee dahh dahhh….laa deee dahhhh…

Years later the suit is settled for a few tens of millions of dollars.

In the meantime Microsoft has legally harvested and stored everything about you…and I mean everything just like the snowflake said in the video above. You agreed to let them sell that data to any and all takers…..including…..NSA.

Now NSA has had your data for the ten years you waited to get a refund on the OS and Microsoft has made somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 billion dollars from the sale of everyone’s data during the same period. It cost them a few tens of millions in settlements and lawyer costs.

It’s all legal….you agreed to the contract, MS is a corporation under Admiralty jurisdiction and is therefore not bound to the laws that are applied in the United States for America.

To make it worse, new legislation like the Trans Pacific and Trans Atlantic trade agreements now indemnify the corporation from any liability at all….so, thanks to the administration and Congress who never actually reads the legislation before they sign it, you can’t even sue Microsoft for the tiny little coding error that gave you Windows 10 and decimated years of your work.

Multiply this scenario by Pay Pal, Google, Amazon, Twitter, Reddit and all of the pharmaceutical companies and you can see how the system grinds to a complete halt.

Lovely….but it is brilliant in it’s simplicity.

[Daveroo]

good god,i think i want off this blue ball.........

[gman5250]

good god,i think i want off this blue ball.........

lol...cheer up big guy. There's actually a silver lining to all of this.

[AussieMan]

I think you Americans should be more concerned by the fact that you could have that barking mad idiot Donald J Trump as your next president. To me that would be more of a concern than having your computer updated to Windows 10.

I also have several programmes that do not work under W10 but by running them in Compatible mode I have them running fine.

[gman5250]

I think you Americans should be more concerned by the fact that you could have that barking mad idiot Donald J Trump as your next president. To me that would be more of a concern than having your computer updated to Windows 10.

I also have several programmes that do not work under W10 but by running them in Compatible mode I have them running fine.

Oh mannnn Pat....not even going to go near that one.

[KellyB]

Pat: Way off base. We don't vote in your elections, stay out of ours.

We are concerned about this election, which is why there are so many more people interested in it. We are, however, multi-tasking.

It has little or nothing to do with M$soft's deceitful practices and their ham-handed attempt to control the pc world, which should backfire on them, but in this world of ever increasing idiocracy, won't.

[Dangerousdave26]

On all Levels from everyone

Keep the politics at home.

They have no place here.