Windows 10 October 2018 Update users are being forced to upgrade – ready or not
Microsoft has begun the process of herding those still running the Windows 10 October 2018 Update into upgrading to the most recent November 2019 Update.
The same thing has already happened to those running the April 2018 Update, and that previous forced upgrade scheme kicked off in July (instigating automatic upgrades to the May 2019 Update, which of course was the most recent version of Windows 10 at the time).
[...] So this is the second time Microsoft has wielded an upgrade cattle prod, effectively, and the reason for doing so is security – because the end of service date for the update in question is on the horizon. Users must therefore upgrade, or face missing out on vital security patches.
However, the timeframe in which Microsoft is pushing these mandatory upgrades is well in advance of what the company initially announced. The official stance remains that the rollout process will be started “several months in advance of the end of service date to provide adequate time for a smooth update process”.
Which is fair enough, but the end of support deadline for the October 2018 Update is May 12, 2020, so that’s actually still over five months away – a little more than ‘several months’ in our books.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 10 2019, @12:30PM (4 children)
If I want to run an insecure box then it's my problem.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Tuesday December 10 2019, @02:00PM
Maybe the Chinese have a point [soylentnews.org]. Really, doesn't seem like much difference any more.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Pino P on Tuesday December 10 2019, @07:06PM (2 children)
If a vulnerability causes your box to join a botnet that attempts to infect my box or run up my server's Internet bandwidth bill, whose problem is that?
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Acabatag on Thursday December 12 2019, @12:20AM (1 child)
It's your responsibility to secure your stuff against anything the outside world will throw at it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Pino P on Friday December 13 2019, @04:42AM
How do you recommend that a site operator going about securing their site against request flood attacks intended to consume the site's allotment of network bandwidth?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by zion-fueled on Tuesday December 10 2019, @01:10PM (2 children)
So the mechanism is in place where Microsoft could now force the windows as a service update to 10 whether users want to keep using the old version or not. All they have to do is say the magic words: "security".
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday December 10 2019, @02:43PM
It's not like they've been quiet or obscuring this as their plan; it's been pretty plainly obvious as I'm sure you know.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday December 10 2019, @03:43PM
There's actually a good solution to this given in the story just before this one [soylentnews.org]. Problem is will they be able to process 144,000 people [statista.com] at once?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Mojibake Tengu on Tuesday December 10 2019, @01:24PM (1 child)
How about countries under American sanctions? Like Venezuela for example. Forcing Windows upgrade on users in Venezuela seems unlawful by U.S. law, it is obviously a transfer of technology. The others will get what they deserve, for sure.
That brings an idea: if one switches system locale to Venezuela, could this prevent an unwanted upgrade?
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 5, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday December 10 2019, @07:24PM
Nah.... The Geneva Convention might have something to say about it, though!
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday December 10 2019, @02:20PM (2 children)
I have a tablet with Windows 10 that can't finish upgrading from 1810. For some reason, it can't run while charging. It doesn't have the battery capacity to finish the upgrade before the batteries run down, so the upgrade always fails and is rolled back. Not to mention it doesn't have enough free storage space, so I have to let it use an SD card to even try. I'd say that thing is immune to upgrades, LOL.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 10 2019, @03:16PM (1 child)
If you can replicate the same conditions in other machines, you can probably go into business and make a killing!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @04:17AM
Just be glad you did not buy a Microsoft Phone!
(Score: 2) by Snospar on Tuesday December 10 2019, @03:14PM
So have they fixed the issue where the upgrade tries to update the Bootloader and trips up over GRUB and fails the entire upgrade?
Looking forward to multiple pointless reboots next time I try and boot Windows. Yay!
Huge thanks to all the Soylent volunteers without whom this community (and this post) would not be possible.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Tuesday December 10 2019, @03:45PM
Getting compulsory updates from a company you neither trust not to spy on you or to break your computer is like losing your virgininty over and over again, you can never get used to it because every time it is a total dice roll.
Sounds really unpleasant. Windows users have probably just never heard that whole 'boiling frogs' story, someone should tell them about slippery slopes, dark patterns, overcentralization and dependency.
https://archive.is/xXs6r [archive.is]
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Tuesday December 10 2019, @07:00PM (3 children)
A month or two ago I was goofing off on the computer before hopping on the treadmill when Windows informed me that it was going to update itself in 30 minutes whether I wanted it to or not. I had been running 1803 at the time. "Bull-effing-shit" I said out loud as I took steps to beat Windows Update into submission. I'm glad that it notified me when it did, otherwise I may have not been able to update on my terms.
Mind you, I'm not one that never updates, but dammit I want to control when I update! Plus, when I do the feature "upgrade" I like to take an image of my C: drive first, and then run the update from a USB stick with the desired image of Win10 (1903 in this case).
Is it too much to ask for the option to notify me of updates, and then let me download and schedule the updates like Win7?
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Gaaark on Tuesday December 10 2019, @07:09PM (2 children)
You can do that with Linux!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 10 2019, @10:57PM
Is that a function Poettering added to systemd recently?
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday December 11 2019, @03:05PM
I know, my media server PC is running Linux Mint. :)
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday December 10 2019, @07:07PM
I sit here, not caring, while your teeth are baring
With Linux I care not, cos Windows is snot ...
......and never again will be on my computers. You will take Linux from my cold dead hands!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---