****** Careful when upgrading to windows 10 from Windows 7 ****

Microsoft admits the "mistake", but the problem persists. (see the comments)

http://arstechnica.com …some-windows-7-8-systems/

electronpusher wrote in post #17754612
Microsoft admits the "mistake", but the problem persists. (see the comments)

http://arstechnica.com …some-windows-7-8-systems/

Sureeeeeeeeeeeeeee....​..... "MISTAKE".

electronpusher wrote in post #17754612
Microsoft admits the "mistake", but the problem persists. (see the comments)

http://arstechnica.com …some-windows-7-8-systems/

This article has a pretty huge mistake. How does the title:

"Windows 10 upgrade installing automatically on some Windows 7, 8 systems"

equate to:

" the installer does require human intervention to actually proceed, so you won't run the risk of waking up to find your PC running a different operating system."

Pretty misleading IMO. I guess the correct title which would be "Optional Windows 10 upgrade package downloading automatically on some Windows 7, 8 systems" isn't as sensational.

There are two different big issues going on with the update. It was downloading the large update file by default, but sitting there waiting for the user to manually run the update. However the other week there was a bug with the recent standard windows security updates where the default setting on the Windows 10 upgrade got flipped from being "off" to being "on". My understanding of it was that if you had auto updates on, then the windows update tool looked at all the pending updates, saw the windows 10 'update' that was set to 'on', and happily followed what it was programmed to do... (I upgraded my system awhile ago and a quick google isn't giving me accurate details on it. I'm not 100% sure if the glitch was limited to just systems set to auto-update, or if it was accidentally rolled out as some kind of critical security upgrade that pushed through anyway. Also not sure how many regions were affected.)

Not exactly the kind of thing any serious programmer would want to see in their software. Wonderful PR nightmare in all. But this kind of thing is a good example of why blind auto updates can be a bit of a "Bad Idea". I've been in software development and QA for awhile now, and while developers always try to ship good code, we still sometimes get very surprised by things once they hit the real world.

Bob_A wrote in post #17754837
This article has a pretty huge mistake. How does the title:

"Windows 10 upgrade installing automatically on some Windows 7, 8 systems"

equate to:

" the installer does require human intervention to actually proceed, so you won't run the risk of waking up to find your PC running a different operating system."

Pretty misleading IMO. I guess the correct title which would be "Optional Windows 10 upgrade package downloading automatically on some Windows 7, 8 systems" isn't as sensational.

In my case, I had to "intervene", meaning in this case that I had to reboot. Well, the OS said I had to. This led to only one outcome, unexpectedly, and that was the upgrade to Windows 10.

Different users might be having different experiences. Also be aware that these experiences are usually multi-step, and that people will simplify when relating what happened. Therefore the descriptions might not be literally accurate.

I agree it is confusing, but the point is that systems are being forced to upgrade.

It was worse than just flipped from off to on. It was set to update in the "optional update" section. Fortunately I have mine set to notify me but not to install until I manually inspect the updates. I don't always look at the optional ones, as they're never checked unless you do it manually and they're on a different screen. It's the first time I've seen an optional update selected by default. I got lucky and happened to check when this happened. It's happened over and over since then. In the future, supposedly Windows 10 updates will be mandatory with no notification. I have to ask myself why Microsoft is so eager to give this OS away, in fact, attempt to force it on users. What is it in this new version that they're so frantic to employ?

A lot of security updates, and better support for their ad and app store services, are the key things that Microsoft is looking to get users on Windows 10 for. (Plus the fewer people on their old services means the lower the threat level from exploits.)

But the auto update thing was still very much a bug and in no way something that any sane developer actually wants to do.

No NSA backdoor, then?

Luckless wrote in post #17754985
But the auto update thing was still very much a bug and in no way something that any sane developer actually wants to do.

A "bug" that is so self-serving is not a bug.

I've updated 2 PC's and the boot camp partition of my iMac so far. The only issue I had was having to do a clean install on the iMac bc apparently Windows 10 doesn't play nice with fusion drives when choosing the migrate data option. No biggie, I didn't have much on there anyways, so I just loaded things from a backup onto the clean install. It was worth it to me to go from Win 7 to 10 on the 2014 iMac bc of the lack of native USB 3.0 drivers in Win 7. Otherwise I had to unplug everything from the iMac to get it to boot into Windows. YMMV

The Truth About Windows 10 Spying on Almost Everything You Do

Enjoy.

But isnt every phone also spying on you as well. (so I would assume apple computers are doing the same). This isnt something that just started happening. On the flip side how would you expect your computer and phone to sync your life if you dont allow it to access that information.

(side rant: People want privacy but will tell their entire life story on facebook or whatever personal media website that they are addicted to. I have a family member that does claims in car insurance so whenever a claim is made against the company the first thing they do is check to see what that person has written in facebook. More often than not people are suing for neck and back injury but their facebook shows a pic of them playing basketball or something of the sort.)

As for me I have 3 computers and 1 specifically I will use for researching what I consider to be more private information. The other two I have my personal info such as my email accounts and such things. So "spy" all you want.

Yes, the spying is widespread and it won't end. I posted the link because it contains some tips to curtail it a bit. Every bit helps, I guess.

I agree with your comment. It's been mentioned elsewhere that Facecrook is used by some government agency to keep tabs on people. Maybe urban legend, but Stalin woulda loved it: a system of surveillance to which people happily and expeditiously sign in and use it to document every aspect of their lives, important and inane alike. No threats, no coercion, they all just sign up because it's FREEEEEE!!

I don't have any accounts with Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or what have you. I do have one on LinkedIn, and they also do funny stuff. Can't say I'm happy either.

I have a Facebook account, but don't post anything of personal significance to it (I think). For instance, I don't announce I will be away on a trip. FB keeps asking for my phone number "in case" I need to restore my account, but I keep declining.

I realize Google also collects my data, but I see MS as a more nefarious company. So I have locked Win 10 down as much as I can. Regardless, I use Startpage for web searches on my PC to hide that data from Google.

If you care about maximizing security in Windows 10 and reducing data collection, there are a few measures you can take, here are some outlines:

Step 1. Install Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB N.
It's up to you where and how you get your hands on this version, but basically it's a highly stripped down version for businesses that has most features locked down, although you can add features back as service packs. It can only accept fixes and minor updates from MS, so it's impossible to get any undesirable upgrades without your say in it.

Step 2. Download the following Powershell script: https://dl.dropboxuser​content.com …616/Debloat-Windows10.ps1
Open Powershell as admin and enter: Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned - it will ask you to verify, so enter Y
Next run the script from the shell and follow the instructions, it will regularly ask you which features you want to keep or disable/remove, it's up to you here.

Step 3. Download this program: https://github.com/10s​e1ucgo/DisableWinTrack​ing
The above script should have pretty much removed everything related to metro and apps, but some people might still make use of the telemetry blocking settings.

Step 4. Go to the following website and do everything explained there: http://www.mechbgon.co​m/build/security2.html
Of particular importance are #6: install and configure EMET 5.2, and Advanced users: software restriction policy (W10 no longer has parental controls so you'll have to do it the hard way)

Step 5. Install Peerblock and add a block list for Microsoft, in addition to the default lists. The default Windows firewall can be made decent by installing TinyWall.

Congratulations! your system is now tighter than a gnat's аss! All without even using an antivirus - not to say you shouldn't use one - but you have essentially made it impossible for anything to happen on your system without your direct feedback.

If you want to be super-thorough, you can try blocking Microsoft data collection IPs at your router, since some sources say that Peerblock and firewalls are not fully efficient at blocking them. I'm sure you can find the IP list online somewhere.

The only "problem" with the above configuration, is that your system will be constantly asking you about any system changes that you do, but I guess that's the price of security.