
This week, Microsoft made Windows 10 a “recommended update” that will
automatically download for many Windows 7 and 8.1 users. This is
just Microsoft’s latest move in aggressively pushing Windows 10–here’s
how we got to this point.
Windows 10 is better than Windows 8, and probably a good upgrade for
most Windows users at this point. But there are a lot of good reasons to
stick with previous versions of Windows–like if you rely on a piece of
software or hardware compatibility with software and hardware that
won’t necessarily work with Windows 10. The update is even coming to
business users, which is remarkably problematic.
Get Windows 10, or “GWX”, Becomes Pushier Over Time
Microsoft’s push to upgrade Windows 7 and 8.1 users began with the “Get Windows 10” application,
also known as GWX. This was rolled out through Windows Update and
automatically installed on computers before Windows 10 was even
released.
In its initial form, the Get Windows 10 application left a system
tray icon with a pop-up that encouraged users to reserve a spot in line
for the free upgrade. For those excited to upgrade, this was a nice
opportunity, albeit a waste of system tray space. For other Windows
users, though, it was confusing–they weren’t used to this sort of
behavior, and had to search the web to
find out if it was malware.

That GWX notification became pushier and pushier over time, though.
It’s become a large desktop window that regularly pops up with the
options “Start download now” and “Start download, upgrade later.” Some
people have even seen “Upgrade now” and “Upgrade tonight” options.
Others only saw a “Start download now” button with no other option. In
all cases, there isn’t a clear “Don’t upgrade” button–instead, you just
had to close the window (until it pops up again later).
You can uninstall the GWX update, but you’ll likely find Windows
reinstalling it for you the next day, assuming you have automatic
updates enabled.
Microsoft provides
instructions for disabling the Windows 10 upgrade, but
they require hacking around in the Windows registry or Group Policy,
ensuring most Windows users won’t feel comfortable doing this. The
third-party
GWX Control Panel app has been the best way to configure this, but it has to regularly update because Microsoft keeps finding ways around it.
We’ve provided step-by-step instructions for both of these methods here.
Microsoft’s support page says their method will work, and the developer
of GWX Control Panel states that as of February 2nd, it should still
work as well. That said, we’ve seen reports that the setting doesn’t
“stick” for some people, so your mileage may vary.
It’s Now a Recommended Update on Purpose, After Being a Recommended Update by Mistake

In October 2015, Microsoft marked the Windows 10 upgrade as a
“Recommended” update in Windows Update with no warning. Previously, it
was an optional update, which would not download until a user chose to
do so. As a recommended update, however, many Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs
automatically downloaded the 6 GB of data without warning.
Some people found they were unable to opt out of the update and could
only reschedule it. Some people with data-limited connections were
pushed over their data caps. Microsoft said this was a “
mistake” and reclassified the update…but only after it had already downloaded on many PCs.
That didn’t last long, though. At the end of October,
Microsoft announced
that Windows 10 would become a recommended upgrade in February 2016,
and sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately, this
didn’t really solve the problem–it will still automatically download on
many machines, and most Windows users probably didn’t hear about this or
pay attention to the advance warning.
Don’t Want Windows 10? Microsoft Says You Should Disable Automatic Updates
If you have Windows 8.1, you can mark your connection as “metered” to
prevent Windows from automatically downloading data, including the
Windows 10 update. Windows 7 users, however, don’t have this option, so
people with data caps are left with automatic downloads again. Microsoft
actually advised metered Windows 7 users to disable automatic updates
to ensure Windows wouldn’t download 6 GB of data on such connections.
“If you are on a metered connection on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, then
you have the option of turning off automatic updates,” reads
Microsoft’s blog post.
It’s shocking that Microsoft would recommend this, since it’s clearly
bad for security. There should be a way for Windows 7 users to get
automatic security updates without worrying Windows 10 will suddenly
download, but Microsoft doesn’t offer average users a clear way to opt
out of Windows 10 updates.
For now, you can change how Windows installs updates. Click the Start
button and type “Windows Update”. Click “Change settings” in the
sidebar and uncheck the “Give me recommended updates the same way I
receive important updates” option. This should prevent Windows 7 or 8.1 from automatically downloading Windows 10.

Alternatively, you can leave this box checked and set the dropdown to
“Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install
them”.
Regardless of which setting you pick, you’ll have to visit Windows
Update regularly to install important and/or recommended updates. From
the Windows Update window, click the number of available updates, and
choose the updates you want to install. (Just be sure not to select any
multi-gig updates that include Windows 10 installation files.)
Windows 7 and 8.1 Suddenly “Aren’t Supported” on Intel’s Skylake Hardware
As if all that wasn’t enough, Microsoft made a
surprising announcement on
January 15. For the first time ever, Microsoft announced that Windows 7
and 8.1 would not be fully supported on Intel’s newest “Skylake”
hardware, and that future chipset platforms would require the current
version of Windows at the time the platform was released.
This is a huge change. Intel’s Skylake chips had actually been
available for months at the time of the announcement, so there wasn’t
much advance warning. But, more importantly, Windows has never required
this before.
Microsoft has
a list of specific Skylake PC models
that will be officially supported until July 2017, after which they’ll
only receive critical security updates if they don’t affect the
stability of the Windows 7 or 8.1 platform. Microsoft says these PCs
should be upgraded to Windows 10 by then. It’s unclear what this means
for people who built their own Skylake PCs and installed Windows 7.
Businesses that purchased Skylake hardware with the expectation that
Windows 7 would continue being supported on them, as has historically
been the case, were ambushed.
This is just yet another way Microsoft is nudging people towards
Windows 10. While it’s somewhat understandable Microsoft would want to
simplify things and focus on only supporting new chipsets in the current
version of Windows, Microsoft really should have announced this before
Skylake was released instead of afterwards.
The future doesn’t look good for downgrade rights,
either. A Microsoft representative avoided answering the question of
what this means for downgrade rights when Microsoft-watcher Mary Jo
Foley
asked.
Windows 10 Upgrade Notifications Are Arriving on Business PCs, Too
Speaking of businesses, Microsoft also wants business PCs to update.
Windows PCs joined to an Active Directory domain will now receive “Get
Windows 10” nags, too.
This will only affect domain-joined PCs set to upgrade through
Windows Update, not PCs set to receive updates through the
organization’s own update server. There’s a way to block the update,
too, but it also has to be done through group policy or the registry.
In practice, this means the Get Windows 10 upgrade and associated
nags will be arriving on many business PCs, whether they’re wanted or
not. Yes, if the business has an IT person who’s on top of things, that
person can block the upgrade. But many businesses don’t, although they
may use a domain.