Argh! What happened? Help!!!

6957 Views 104 Replies 33 Participants Last post by Taurus92, Jul 16, 2016

Malum Prohibitum

Discussion Starter · May 20, 2016

My old PC from 2011 with an i3 processor and not a lot of memory, when I turned it on, says, Welcome to Windows 10! It downloaded some free version of itself while I was asleep! So I get to a window where it says I can reject it, and I hit Decline.

It asks, Are you sure you want to decline? It says it can reinstall my older version of Windows, but it is going to take a while . . .

WTH?

This is a little inconvenient, don't you think?

So would anybody who knows what the hell they are talking about please tell me what I should do? My ignorance has me a little paralyzed. Literally all I know is that it is some sort of new operating system. I do not know if it will bog down my old computer, if it will improve things . . . I just don't know.

Help! :surrender:

1 - 20 of 105 Posts

GM404

· #2 · May 20, 2016 (Edited)

Not much you can do except uninstall it or keep it. I am not sure how well it would perform on your 2011 computer. You have to be hyper vigilant in declining the upgrade...MS has been VERY sneaky in how they have gone about this. It *attempted* to install on my old desktop when it scheduled it on its own. It actually fully installed on my Dad's and I had to remove it. In my opinion, the way MS has done this is disingenuous and makes me want to avoid using any MS products.

As for the uninstall, it completely uninstalled in about 15 minutes and I haven't been able to see that there were any ill effects. But of course, the pop-ups to install STILL come up, so I assume my Dad will inadvertently click on the wrong response and it will install AGAIN.

What can you do? As I understand, you can remove the installation upgrade that is already on your computer, but it looks like it's a pain and would take a little while for someone who isn't very familiar with config files/etc (which I am NOT).

Also, you can keep 10 on there and see how it works. As I understand, you can revert to your older OS for up to 30 days after the install of 10. So..maybe give it a try. I personally don't dare use W10 on my quite old desktop.

OR...you can spend $3,000 on an Apple.

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MewsicLovr

· #3 · May 20, 2016

Yeah that's a thing. It's a gigantic pain in the ass, because I've tried several times to stop the windows 10 upgrade nag and it's difficult to remove. I think I finally made it go away for good, but I'm not 100% sure what I did last. I believe it was a registry setting. Try following the steps in here, it has visuals so you shouldn't mess up, but be very careful editing the registry:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to...des-on-your-business-network-and-at-home-too/

If you can downgrade, or decline the EULA, I'd recommend it. I've played around with windows 10 a little bit and I hate it.

Malum Prohibitum

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 20, 2016

GM404 said:
OR...you can spend $3,000 on an Apple.

All my stuff is Apple now, but I keep the old PC for certain things.

GM404

· #5 · May 20, 2016

Malum Prohibitum said:
All my stuff is Apple now, but I keep the old PC for certain things.

NO!!!!!!!! Wait...I do have some AAPL stock, so YESSSS!!!!

Malum Prohibitum

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 20, 2016

Ok, I hit "Decline." We'll see what happens.

For what it is worth, there is not even a minuscule chance that I inadvertently clicked on anything related to loading this operating system. I left the computer on overnight, doing nothing. When I went to stream classical music on Youtube this morning, I was met with an unfamiliar screen and message about Windows 10.

"Restoring your previous version of Windows . . ." and on and on and on . . .

GM404

· #7 · May 20, 2016

Malum Prohibitum said:
Ok, I hit "Decline." We'll see what happens.

For what it is worth, there is not even a minuscule chance that I inadvertently clicked on anything related to loading this operating system. I left the computer on overnight, doing nothing. When I went to stream classical music on Youtube this morning, I was met with an unfamiliar screen and message about Windows 10.

"Restoring your previous version of Windows . . ." and on and on and on . . .

Same thing happened to mine and I had been very vigilant in declining. I think it has something to do with the Windows update that is usually set to do updates automatically. I just happened to catch it, because it was starting the download as I sat down to waste time online.

I looked at the link provided to modify the registry and although it says "do it in 30 seconds", I can assure you that it would take me at least AN HOUR to try and figure out what they wanted me to modify. So...not a great option in my opinion.

MewsicLovr

· #8 · May 20, 2016

GM404 said:
I looked at the link provided to modify the registry and although it says "do it in 30 seconds", I can assure you that it would take me at least AN HOUR to try and figure out what they wanted me to modify. So...not a great option in my opinion.

I don't disagree, but I've done a lot of research on this and I promise this is about as condensed as it gets. It's ridiculously convoluted to make this go away for good.

GM404

· #9 · May 20, 2016

MewsicLovr said:
It's ridiculously convoluted to make this go away for good.

By design, I am sure!

futureusr

· #10 · May 20, 2016

Microsoft reclassified the Win 10 update from recommended to a required security update, so everyone who has automatic updates enabled gets updated to win10 regardless if they continue to decline the nag.

MS has received a lot of complaints about this, but they don't care. They want everyone on win10, regardless if the customer desires it or not.

Malum Prohibitum

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 20, 2016

Well, it is back to the way it was, as far as I can tell, streaming Beethoven's 6th Symphony into my office.

codegeek

· #12 · May 20, 2016

seems like a lot of people had this problem today. My nefarious plot to take over the world is proceeding as I have for seen it...

RedDawnTheMusical

· #13 · May 20, 2016

Windows 10 was the last nail in the coffin for me. It completely ruined my ability to use my PC. It was replaced with an iMac running OS X and I haven't looked back since.

Craftsman

· #14 · May 20, 2016

I am an IT professional and I like Windows 10. Unlike Windows Vista and 7, it runs reasonably well on older hardware. Anything that ran XP should run Wndows 10 just fine. And it was very necessary for security, mainly because trying to secure older, inherently insecure OS versions was not practical anymore. Leaving them "as is" wasn't an option either. So Microsoft gave everyone a free upgrade from old, unsupported OS versions.

And the security issue isn't just about your machine, it about your danger to others Having an old, unsupported machine on the internet is the equivalent of going to a concert or a ball game every day, unvaccinated.

jlcnuke

· #15 · May 20, 2016

Craftsman said:
I am an IT professional and I like Windows 10. Unlike Windows Vista and 7, it runs reasonably well on older hardware. Anything that ran XP should run Wndows 10 just fine. And it was very necessary for security, mainly because trying to secure older, inherently insecure OS versions was not practical anymore. Leaving them "as is" wasn't an option either. So Microsoft gave everyone a free upgrade from old, unsupported OS versions.

And the security issue isn't just about your machine, it about your danger to others Having an old, unsupported machine on the internet is the equivalent of going to a concert or a ball game every day, unvaccinated.

I agree with all of this. Not to mention, Windows 10 actually is a lesser resource hog with DX12 than other recent versions of windows, resulting in most people having better running machines after upgrading (how noticeable that "better" is is quite subjective though).

The only exception that I've heard of is for specific hardware or programs that don't have innate support in the new operating system *though this is unlikely to be the case for most people.

phaed

· #16 · May 20, 2016

if anyone wants to keep this from happening to them in the future, i recommend using GWX Control Panel and/or Spybot Anti-Beacon.

it also helps to manually go through the windows updates to make sure they haven't unhidden or reclassified any of them. this is a HUGE pain in the ass, and if i weren't a PC gamer, would have bailed on m$oft by now.

AtlPhilip

· #17 · May 20, 2016

Also, Win 10 uses your PC as a source for others to download Win10. Hope you're not on metered bandwidth, it's 6GB.

And for those who handle sensitive info, the documents you were working on are uploaded to MS with crash reports.

futureusr said:
Microsoft reclassified the Win 10 update from recommended to a required security update,

Source? If true, this has potentially significant ramifications to those who must remain PCI-DSS compliant.

jsaund22

· #18 · May 20, 2016

I know they reclassified it as a "Recommended Update", which meant that it auto-installed for users with auto update turned on. I haven't heard about the required security reclassification.

jlcnuke

· #19 · May 20, 2016

AtlPhilip said:
Also, Win 10 uses your PC as a source for others to download Win10. Hope you're not on metered bandwidth, it's 6GB.

And for those who handle sensitive info, the documents you were working on are uploaded to MS with crash reports.

Source? If true, this has potentially significant ramifications to those who must remain PCI-DSS compliant.

Unless you turn it off, you are a seed for sending windows, but you're unlikely to notice a change in bandwidth usage really.

As for your second statement, I've seen that stated multiple times but found zero confirmation that it is true.

AtlPhilip

· #20 · May 20, 2016

jlcnuke said:
Unless you turn it off, you are a seed for sending windows, but you're unlikely to notice a change in bandwidth usage really.

Satellite users are often limited to 10Gb/mo. Their install was 6GB. Seeding could get expensive quickly.

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