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General discussion

Forced to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10

Mar 7, 2016 11:03AM PST

Hi all,

I am being forced to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 by Windows! Please see the screen shot.

http://i.imgur.com/jBOTwkI.png

I didn't accept to upgrade. I do not want to upgrade. I did not click anything to upgrade. I am happy with Windows 7.

After looking at the screen shot, you will see Windows is only giving me the options of:
1. Start Upgrade Now
2. Schedule upgrade for an exact date and time (it states "the scheduled time can not be changed after this")

So, basically this is a forced upgrade!

I tried to "task manager close" this update window but it just reappears moments after. I don't see any other options other then "update it now or update it later at a specific time (which can not be changed).

Last night Windows automatically just started upgrading to Window 10. It didn't ask me if I wanted to. I didn't click on anything to upgrade. Nothing. In fact I stepped away from the computer but saw the upgrading in progress screen. It just tarted an automatic upgrade. After about 20 - 30 minutes when it upgraded, tried Windows 10 and don't like it. My video card acts weird on it. My screen flashes even after its fully installed and rebooted. I like my widgets that show my GPU, CPU, RAM and HD usage in real time so I know what's going on with my PC. Widgets are not allowed in Windows 10. I know a lot of the commands and locations for things in Windows 7 and I don't want to have them again. I have a feeling that more of my hardware is going to have an issue with Windows 10. After all these problems, I actually did a system restore to get Win 7 back last night. Now, today (less the 24 hours after the automatic upgrade) its forcing me to upgrade again by only giving me two options (both of which are to upgrade).

I may upgrade to Win 10 in a few years, but I don't want to be forced to do so now. Microsoft has been offering Windows 10 for free for a while now. If I had wanted it, I would have gotten it. I have seen the little window pop up saying "upgrade now for a limited time" almost daily. I see the advertisements on MSN's homepage to "upgrade now". Shouldn't it be my choice not forced if I want to upgrade? They are only giving me two options, both of which is to upgrade right now or in a few days. No option to "not upgrade" or "leave me alone"

I am frustrated about this. Any suggestions? The window to update is up right now as we speak.

Thanks

Note: This post was edit by the Forum Admin to include the referring screenshot by OP

Post was last edited on March 11, 2016 1:53 PM PST

Discussion is locked

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Upgrade to Windows 10
Mar 12, 2016 5:24AM PST

I too was very happy with Windows 7. I also heard all the bad reviews about windows 8. I had a second computer running Windows Vista, and I accepted the Windows 8.1 upgrade to see for myself. I was very surprised to find that I liked it better than all older Windows. So I upgraded my primary computer to Windows 8.1, and a couple of months ago I switched both computers to Windows 10, which is even better than 8.1. Some time ago, I found that my computer was running very slow. I contacted Windows 10 support by chat and a technician took control of my computer and fixed the problem.

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Another Reference
Mar 12, 2016 5:33AM PST

I have tried to keep track of all this "forceware" and been mostly successful but it does mean that patch Tuesday is a nightmare, checking for re-issues/renumbering of the rubbish I have hidden.

I did come across a small utility, imaginatively called "Windows 10 When I want it". It checks for all the known forceware patches and removes them (despite my care, it found two) and makes a small change to the registry to prevent version upgrades. It worked for me. If you are interested, check out

win10wiwi.com

Not sure if it works once you get to the OP's stage but for what it's worth...

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Avoid Forced Upgrade
Mar 12, 2016 5:49AM PST

I've avoided the upgrade from Win7 to Win10 and the nagging prompts by doing 2 things. 1st, Turn off "Automatic Update". Go to "Windows Update" in the "System" folder of the Control Panel and choose the setting "Check for Updates but let me choose whether to download or install them". 2nd, get rid of the nagging prompts by going to "View Installed Updates" in the Control Panel. Right click KB2952664 and KB3035583. If you see KB2976978, Right Click it as well. When you Right click you will see "Uninstall". After uninstalling each one you will need to "Restart" your PC. Go back in and verify they no longer appear. These instructions are courtesy of BruceR.
I don't know what to do to remove Win10 once installed and revert to Win7. Maybe someone that had the Upgrade Forced figured that out and can help you.

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Not "Forced" Exactly
Mar 12, 2016 6:20AM PST

You are not being "forced." You are being nudged. There are ways to deactivate that message.

Here's one way:

1. Open regedit

2. Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Gwx

3. Create a new REG_DWORD registry value called: DisableGwx

4. Give it a value of "1" (no quotes)

Now, that's HOW to do it. The question is, do you really WANT to disable it that way or the more common way of upgrading to Windows 10, which despite the whining of some, really is a better operating system in every way something can be, and promises to keep getting better and better.

Loyalty to an operating system version is something I have always found a bit weird. If you give yourself a chance to familiarize yourself with Windows 10, which shouldn't take long, you may find that not only do you like it, but going back to a Windows 7 machine seems clunky and feels very much like going back to Windows 98 after you grew accustomed to XP.

Give Windows 10 a chance. Yeah, you might have to download and install a new printer driver, but Win 10 REALLY IS BETTER.

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No loyalty to a particular OS here - at least from me
Mar 12, 2016 11:05AM PST

I don't really have loyalty to a particular Microsoft OS, in this case Windows 7. I've pretty much upgraded from 98, to XP to Vista to 7 on multiple machines and plan to upgrade in the future.

One of the biggest things I love about Windows 7 and not later versions of Windows is the "gadgets". Windows 8 and later version of windows has removed gadgets. I LOVE the ability to keep real time tabs on my hardware at a glance on my desktop. Please see the screen shot in the original post.

Is something using large portions of CPU, hard drive, GPU or transmitting a lot of data when nothing is open? Could be a virus or a need to investigate further. This real time glance at the internals of the hardware of my PC through these gadgets has alerted me to viruses and let me know the bottle necks of my current set up (right now its my GPU which sits at 99% on the gadget when running the latest games) so I know I need to upgrade the GPU. It has also let me know what the true speed I am uploaded and downloading at, at any given moment (see network meter gadget) so I know if I need to call the ISP. Basically my working desktop at a glance through gadgets is a "command and control center" for my PC alerting me to problems, performance and other areas that may need addressing and investigation either in the short term or long term (in terms of upgrading for performance).

Win 7 is the only one that allows me to have gadgets. This alone is a deal breaker for me. Maybe Win 10 has something similar that I do not know about. Does it?

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Apps
Mar 12, 2016 3:00PM PST

I'm going to be honest. I hated Windows 8 with a passion. I even paid an extra $200 and waited an extra month to get my new laptop with Windows 7 (which I love) instead of Windows 8. However, I really love Windows 10, too. I was surprised.

What Windows 10 has is apps. It's very similar to Android. They have an appstore and many of the apps are free. I have found several that I love and won't want to live without already, and I've only had Windows 10 for about a month.

I haven't checked to see if there are apps that do what you want, but there is a high probability that there is. If there is, and you can get driver updates and run your high-priority programs, then it is worth giving Windows 10 a try. People say that you have to revert within 30 days, and that is true if you are going to revert using the Windows 10 tool for that purpose, but I checked before ever installing Windows 10, and your Windows 7 license is still good. You can always go back to Windows 7, either by using a drive image or by doing a clean install. The advantage of trying Windows 10 is that you then get a free Windows 10 license to use when you like. You can get an iso and take note of the key and go back and forth, if that is your desire.

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also media center
Mar 19, 2016 3:16PM PDT

also the media center has disappear . I mean if you upgrade from win 7 home premium to win 10 home all of the devices that worked with your media center will no longer interact with your device, and that is really annoying too.

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Upgrading help
Mar 12, 2016 7:50AM PST

It's unfortunate MS have taken this approach, but I have to say W10 really is a good OS. Why don't you image your W7, upgrade to W10, and then head on over to Tenforums.com, where they will help you with your driver issues and get your system running smoothly? W7 to W10 upgrades tend to need some tweaking.

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Microsoft Window 10 upgrade
Mar 12, 2016 8:46AM PST

I had the same issue until I downloaded GWX Control Panel.

If you do an internet search on GWX Control Panel, I am sure you will be able to clean this issue up in less than 15 minutes.

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Not as forced as they make you think
Mar 12, 2016 9:59AM PST

I ran into this the other night when I logged in at home, too. My first thought was this was a disaster, because a) I'm not ready to upgrade yet and b) I've been threatened by the IT dept at work that if we ever work from home that we cannot upgrade until they give the all clear because we interface through IE (yeah, yuck). If we upgrade before they say, they will not help us get back in.

However, as I started clicking through the options Windows was giving me to reschedule, I noticed that each time I got to a point where I thought I couldn't get out of it, I'd find a little inconspicuous link at the bottom of the window that would let me back out of the upgrade one more time. Eventually it asked if I just wanted to cancel the upgrade altogether, which I did for now. So now do I get a free Windows upgrade eventually? I don't know, but I was able to stop the forced upgrade for now.

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You might like to know
Mar 12, 2016 3:09PM PST

Windows 10 does still have Internet Explorer. It's just hidden.

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Download the GWX Control Panel to stop auto-upgrades
Mar 12, 2016 11:29AM PST

The GWX Control Panel from Ultimate Outsider sits in your notification area (lower right, by the clock) and can be set to monitor for MS upgrade attempts, stop auto-upgrade attempts, and several other options, most annoying are the pop-ups inviting you to upgrade (which it will stop). You can find it at: http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/ - look for GWX Control Panel. Google it, you'll find it's safe. Have it running on a couple of boxes, as well as my Mom's.

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Hard to believe but it's true
Mar 12, 2016 2:24PM PST
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If all else fails
Mar 12, 2016 4:08PM PST

refuse the EULA, do not "Accept".

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Yea Baby! It's Time to Rollback and Clone
Mar 12, 2016 4:41PM PST

Hi txbearsfan81

This solution may have already been given by a Community Member; but just in case it hasn’t here it is….

You can take your computer back to Windows 7/8.1 within the first 30 days of an upgrade that occurred via a Windows Recommended Update. Here’s a link with screen shots on how to:

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/rollback-from-windows-10

After you get your computer back to your desired Windows OS I suggest you Clone your HD/SSD. By doing so you’ll always have a full copy of the OS (along with programs) ready for install in case of a disaster caused by a component failure or malware; or as you say another forced upgrade that may not allow a roll back. There are numerous 3rd party Cloning programs on the market for DiY. An alternate option is to have it down professionally by a computer repair shop or BB Geek Squad. Please note that after a re-install via a Clone some programs may require the registration key be re-entered to activate them.

On a side note…while allowing 30 days to roll back Win10 is better than nothing, IMO it should not have a time limit. The reason for 30 days I assume is that Microsoft believes you should have had enough time to make an evaluation to keep Win10 or not. That’s really arrogant on their part as I know people who only use their PC once a week! Hardly enough time to evaluate Win10.

Personally, I like Win10. I’ve used every version of Windows dating back to Win3.1 and before that DOS. Talk about change! If you’re wondering what the heck is DOS…open a Command Prompt in Windows and take a glimpse into the past.

The debate about Win10 is going to go on and on and on and on. It will most likely be the same with Win25 (which I‘ll probably not live to see). Bottomline is that change is inevitable and at some point resistance becomes futile as well as the debate itself.

Technology is going to continue to evolve and the flavor of today is not going to last forever. Will there be missteps..of course there will be. Do you remember…Betamax and Newton. Still other technologies will improve and morph into better offerings. Do you remember the Cathode Ray Tube (early TV) that gave way to the Flat Screen (modern TV). How about plastic/vinyl records for listening to music that gave way to the CD. Speaking of CD’s do you still buy them; or do you mainly download and/or stream???

Let’s come full circle and loop back to Personal Computer (PC) sales…surely you don’t think that PC only refers to a laptop. Remember the Desktop computer (not to be confused with the AIO). I’m talking about the separate display, keyboard, mouse and enclosure for HD, CPU, GPU, Motherboard and everything else (although still around but not so much as laptops).

I think you get my drift here. If you’ve read any of my posts (most recently my comments on last weeks topic “Should I Go From PC to Apple”) you’ll know that I’m not a Windows Fanboy. I own three (3) Apple MBP’s and only one (1) Windows OS product…a Microsoft Surface Book. The bottom-line here is that you may want to give Win10 a fair trial before you roll it back….you’ve got 30 days minus a few. In any event I hope the link helps and remember…

Together Everyone Achieve More - T.E.A.M.

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This is very simple.
Mar 13, 2016 8:11AM PDT

All you need to do is remove the GWX app which comes in through Windows updates. If you are unsure how to delete the folder, google "GWX control panel" to download an easy program that will remove GWX for you and prevent it to be installed again.

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Widget Replacement
Mar 13, 2016 10:24AM PDT

If it is just the widgets that you are afraid of losing there are free programs out there that will mimic the widgets. I had to use one for awhile to trouble shoot a hard drive issue and it worked relatively well. I did check out many of the options while I had it installed and it comes with everything in your screen shot.

https://www.rainmeter.net/

There are four computers in my household and each one had it's quirks when upgrading to windows 10 and every one was just a driver issue. If you know that you are going to have trouble after the upgrade like you have stated with your video grab the drivers while on win7 (put them on a USB if you are afraid of losing them) and immediately install them as soon as the upgrade completes. I downloaded every driver for all of my computers beforehand and this did make the upgrade process much less painful.

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Does Rain meter do what all of my widgets do now for Win 7?
Mar 13, 2016 11:57AM PDT

Yes, it is primarily the Widgets that I do not want to lose. I realize with some (maybe a lot) of effort, I can find the drivers for Win 10 for each piece of hardware. Also, I am not looking forward to it but with some (maybe a lot) of effort I can relearn the commands/shortcuts/workings of 10. No widgets or something very similar is a deal breaker for me. Silly? Maybe, but for me its important. This among other things.

Do you see the widgets on the right hand side of my desktop in my screenshot in the original post? These widgets display real time information about "CPU usage percentage", each "hard drive usage percentage", "network usage percentage" and "GPU usage percentage" all in real time. These Widgets also have graphs along with showing the percentage. It really allows me to take and in depth look at any moment on what is going on with the hardware within my PC, should there be an issue (like a virus, secondary hard drive starting to fail etc) or should I need an upgrade on something (if something regularly sits at 99%). These gadgets do all of this in real time on the desktop with out me having to go to a secondary application (like the task manager) for similar info. I really absolutely love these widgets for these reasons and have not been able to find a suitable replacement ever since MS removed widgets. I have my widgets saved on a separate drive so I can always re-install them should I need to reinstall Win 7. This is a big reason why I stuck with 7.

So you are saying "Rain meter" does what all of my widgets do now for Win 7 but for Win 10? I looked into it and the only thing I really see for Rain meter is some media type things and other similar widget type of things like calendar and such. I don't really see real time stats of hardware or graphs showing performance over time. Maybe I am missing it. I do see one screen shot of RAM currently used but that is it. Plus in the RAM used screen shot it doesn't look like it has a graph. I like the graphs as well as the real time info because the graphs shows me what my hardware has been up to, not just what it is doing at the moment.

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It's not silly.
Mar 14, 2016 1:00AM PDT

It's your machine. You should be able to make it work in a way that you like and that you are comfortable with.

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Gadgets
Mar 14, 2016 7:36AM PDT

There is a caveat to downloading and installing some of these "Gadgets". I looked at Rain meter and there is a warning in there about D/Ling the different gadgets that you want.
Since it is "Open Source" there is no way to tell if there is malware/virus's along with the D/L.
I tried one called "8Gadgetpak" yesterday and couldn't get it to work correctly so it is gone now.
Be careful and aware.

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(NT) Forced to upgrade
Mar 15, 2016 11:38AM PDT
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Did you have Windows Update set to recommended?
Mar 15, 2016 11:47AM PDT

Wouldn't that be you telling Microsoft it's OK? Even if you didn't mean it.

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Windows forced upgrade LOL
Mar 17, 2016 10:03PM PDT

Why are you still screwing with Windows at all? After Microsoft quit supporting Windows XP, I moved to Linux and couldn't be happier. And it's FREE.

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Check out whats coming in Ubuntu MATE 16
Mar 17, 2016 11:13PM PDT

It will be a Long Term Service release good till 2020, but currently in Beta, but wow, already seems to work great. MATE is my favorite desktop, it might tempt me away from Mint.

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Machine forced upgrade
Mar 18, 2016 5:38PM PDT

My parents called and said they were forced to upgrade and after all said and done they decline the legal agreement and it messed up there Master boot record and can't get into Windows 7, safe mode works, tried to repair with Windows 7 disk but said it couldn't!!

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Let's hope they made a few backups.
Mar 18, 2016 5:51PM PDT

No problem then.
Dafydd.

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PS.
Mar 18, 2016 5:56PM PDT
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Don't want Windows 10 Upgrade
Mar 18, 2016 5:51PM PDT

Well, my first move would be to bring up the task Manager and see if I can back out it that way. I have been hearing stuff about those pop ups and they aren't Microsoft. You WILL get Windows 10, but also some unwanted stuff. If you are ready to upgrade, you should have the windows thing on the right side of your task bar and you can just click on it. I did upgrade one of my Laptops, but didn't like it as it was. I went and and installed Classic Shell and it is fine. Unfortunately, I use MSN premium for my internet. They have some IE hybrid thing called MSN Explorer. With Windows 10, they have come out with a new browser, and now it is giving a a fit to stay online with MSN Explorer or IE. Keeps stopping. Another one of their little incentives. If you are used to Windows 7 and Do not like the Metro GUI in the start menu, Classic shell will take care of it. The only difference is that you won't get the spiffy little icons in the control panel. I may do the other laptop and this desktop ( I am running a GTX 980 in here and I like the idea of DX12 ). My other desktop is still running Vista. I have a copy of windows 7 for it, just haven't gotten to upgrading it. Anyway, as I said, be careful of those pop ups as you may get more than you bargain for.

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My Windows 10 help
Mar 18, 2016 5:55PM PDT

My computer kept showing it had updates ready, and when I checked what they were it was ready to download Windows 10. It never did DO the updates, but my computer was constantly running like it was preparing to do the updates. Nothing I did would get them off until I downloaded the GWX Control Panel. Now I'm Windows 10 free.

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Windows 10 upgrade
Mar 18, 2016 5:59PM PDT

This is a mandatory upgrade that was approved by the government because windows 10 has high security. There is no opt out and if you find a way around it, you will be prompted again to install it. Even if you do a restore it will restore back to 10.

George

Retired from Microsoft and still do volunteer work for them to track hackers.