
Windows patch KB 3139929: When a security update is not a security update - based2
http://www.infoworld.com/article/3042155/microsoft-windows/windows-patch-kb-3139929-when-a-security-update-is-not-a-security-update.html
======
ShinyCyril
There's been a huge shitstorm on Reddit about Windows 7 / 8 forcing an
automatic upgrade to Windows 10 [1] [2] [3] [4], with many accounts of people
going away to do something and coming back to find their PCs had updated to
Windows 10 without their permission. However I've not been able to find any
stories on this from reliable sources. All I've found so far is a forum post
on CNET and a submission on Slashdot [5] [6].

Does anyone know what's actually going on with this?

[1]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/4a5edx/psa_window...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/4a5edx/psa_windows_7_computers_are_being_reported_as/)

[2]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/4a7bkp/psa_micros...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/4a7bkp/psa_microsoft_refreshes_kb3035583_automatic/)

[3]
[https://np.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/4a0asv/warning_w...](https://np.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/4a0asv/warning_windows_7_computers_are_being_reported_as/)

[4]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/4a59p4/psa_wi...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/4a59p4/psa_windows_7_computers_are_being_reported_as/)

[5] [http://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/forced-to-upgrade-
fro...](http://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/forced-to-upgrade-from-
windows-7-to-windows-10/)

[6]
[https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/03/12/1634229/windows-10-...](https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/03/12/1634229/windows-10-upgrade-
reportedly-starting-automatically-on-windows-7-pcs)

~~~
degenerate
Whatever is going on, you can stop it from happening. Please get the word out
about GWX Control Panel!

[http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/](http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/)

You can turn off all updates, delete the pre-downloaded update cache, kill the
tray notifications, etc. - works wonderfully on several machines I tested!

~~~
whyoh
There's no need to install any 3rd party software. Microsoft themselves
provide the switch to disable upgrades to Windows 10:

[https://support.microsoft.com/en-
us/kb/3080351](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3080351)

(and you can also simply not install/uninstall KB3035583 aka GWX)

~~~
degenerate
With all due respect to this official microsoft solution, it's a huge pain in
the complicated _ass_ for casual users to follow. GWX Control panel is just
_click, click, done_ \- something you can tell your grandma to do.

~~~
jimbobimbo
Unfortunately, it looks like that same tool could make it a bit too easy to
disable Windows Updates altogether, which is not a good idea.

I'd rather endure some pain with going through the registry route, but apply a
fix that addresses only one particular behavior.

------
robertelder
I spent about 3 hours this week doing tech support for my mom over the phone
because of Windows 10's aggressive upgrading behaviour.

I told her to keep her the best way to keep safe security wise is to make sure
the os/browser is up to date, and because Windows 10 keeps asking to upgrade,
she went ahead and did so. After upgrading to Windows 10, all network access
(wired and wifi) stopped working completely. The worst part of this is that if
you can't get internet, you can't even download new drivers to try and debug
the problem. We tried a few things, and eventually just did a system restore
back to Windows 8, but unfortunately, the system restore didn't work
completely and there was more mucking around to try and get the computer into
a bootable state. Then, last night, she said the heard the fan making a lot of
noise, and looked down to see that Windows had gone ahead and started
installing Windows 10 again. Fortunately, wired network access works now, but
wifi is still broken. Hopefully Windows will push an update that fixes the
wifi access.

------
m_fayer
Microsoft seems to be working hard to keep the forces of the universe
balanced. Whatever good will is generated by their foray into oss must be
immediately offset by ill will produced by windows 10.

~~~
spdustin
It's just the second law of thermodynamics at work.

------
ChuckMcM
I find this behavior really curious on Microsoft's part. When I originally
read that Windows 10 would be the last version of windows I thought it
metaphor, but I think Microsoft is really serious, they are no longer
interested in producing a standalone operating system for machines. It feels
to me like they are dragging their customers into a ChromeOS type world where
everything is on the network.

------
dingo_bat
Although force-upgrades are definitely too much, I wonder why such a strong
opposition to upgrade t a much better OS in every way?

It certainly cannot be privacy, because you can turn off every piece of phone-
home stuff. Also, almost every other OS has been doing the same thing for a
long time now, so it seems a bit of an overreaction when Windows does it.

This sort of no-upgrades policy is what leads to IE6. And the entire world has
to suffer because of a few obstinate sysadmins.

~~~
ionised
> It certainly cannot be privacy, because you can turn off every piece of
> phone-home stuff.

No, you can't.

~~~
dingo_bat
I definitely can! I have options for everything including Cortana to the
automatic malware reporting.

~~~
ionised
Unless you have Enterprise their are still telemetry options that cannot be
turned off entirely, and there is diagnostics and usage data not covered by
any of the user settings that still leaks from the OS back to Microsoft.

If you want to block them as well you need to do it with a firewall rules
(like a third party software firewall on whitelist mode).

------
pmorici
Is this the garbage in the system tray that keeps putting up notices about
windows 10? or is this something else?

~~~
whyoh
This one shows an ad in IE.

------
spencera
"I spent most of the night trying to replicate this behavior -- a blue banner
on new tabs in IE11 with "Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 10" \--
and couldn't get it to trigger. If you can, I'd appreciate your shooting an
email with a screenshot to woody@askwoody.com."

~~~
krapp
weird, I just opened IE up and got it immediately:

[https://imgur.com/o69rzTG](https://imgur.com/o69rzTG)

~~~
technion
I get that same ad on a Windows 2012 R2 RDS server. It's interesting having a
user in a remote desktop environment log a ticket about a required upgrade to
Windows 10.

------
tkone
This is great. Nagging people might actually get them to upgrade to a
supported, secure browser. I literally see nothing wrong with this.

~~~
butz
But IE 11 is still supported and "secure" after latest updates.

