Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Saturday October 31 2015, @07:51AM   Printer-friendly
from the Do!-Not!-Want! dept.

Ben Funk over on TechReport has linked to a Terry Myerson blog post where he states that in early 2016, the "Windows 10 Upgrade" update will be changed in status from "Optional" to "Recommended". Therefore, if you haven't changed your Windows 7 system from automatically installing updates to manually notifying, but not installing, now is a good time to make that change, and audit every single "patch" you see. There have already been reports of users unknowingly experiencing ISP bandwidth overages due to downloading a massive 3 GB file due to the "Optional" update that was not requested, but Microsoft seems to be throwing caution to the winds.

In the blog post, Myerson has this statement: "Depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device. Before the upgrade changes the OS of your device, you will be clearly prompted to choose whether or not to continue. And of course, if you choose to upgrade (our recommendation!), then you will have 31 days to roll back to your previous Windows version if you don't love it." Historically, Windows has been far cleaner to install on a blank disk than to upgrade in place, so this sounds like a recipe for many support calls. There also seems to be no backtracking on any of the privacy concerns, or perhaps taking the "zero telemetry, selective update install" functionality promised (but not yet delivered) to Enterprise customers, and extending it to consumer licensees who value their privacy.


Original Submission #1

Original Submission #2

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday November 01 2015, @02:07AM

    by anubi (2828) on Sunday November 01 2015, @02:07AM (#257073) Journal

    One more thing....

    On the last line of the "Choose how Windows can install updates" page brought up on "Change Settings"....

    I would like to call your attention to the last line...

    Note: Windows Update might update itself automatically first when checking for other updates. Read our privacy statement online.

    To me, this means that I risk everything by as much as checking for any updates!!!

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]