homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Wings: Over Flanders Fields OT...Microsoft is downloading Windows 10 to your machine 'just in case'

MICROSOFT HAS CONFIRMED that Windows 10 is being downloaded to computers whether or not users have opted in.

An INQUIRER reader pointed out to us that, despite not having 'reserved' a copy of Windows 10, he had found that the ~BT folder, which has been the home of images of the new operating system since before rollout began, had appeared on his system. He had no plans to upgrade and had not put in a reservation request.

He told us: "The symptoms are repeated failed 'Upgrade to Windows 10' in the WU update history and a huge 3.5GB to 6GB hidden folder labelled '$Windows.~BT'. I thought Microsoft [said] this 'upgrade' was optional. If so, why is it being pushed out to so many computers where it wasn't reserved, and why does it try to install over and over again?

"I know of two instances where people on metered connections went over their data cap for August because of this unwanted download. My own internet (slow DSL) was crawling for a week or so until I discovered this problem. In fact, that's what led me to it. Not only does it download, it tries to install every time the computer is booted."

We asked Microsoft to comment on whether it was downloading Windows 10 anyway as the company rushes to build on the 75 million machines with the new OS installed in its first month, putting it in fourth place behind Window 7, 8.1 and the erstwhile XP.

Microsoft told us: "For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they�ll need if they decide to upgrade.

"When the upgrade is ready, the customer will be prompted to install Windows 10 on the device.�

In other words, if you are patching via Patch Tuesday, as you should of course be, then you are going to get a big hefty folder on your hard drive ready so you can update to Windows 10 on demand.

Now, far be it from The INQUIRER to point fingers, but isn't this a bit presumptuous on Microsoft's part? We know it's keen to get everyone on Windows 10 as quickly as possible but this is not a small background patch - it's a whopping huge operating system image.

For someone using a 2-in-1 with 32GB of flash memory, that's a hefty chunk of their storage being clogged up with an OS that they might not want yet, if at all.

Whether you believe it's to avoid fragmentation or to spy on you depends on how much pot you smoked in college, but it now appears to have gone from 'over keen' to 'needy' and you have to wonder why and whether it's going to blow up in the company's face.

It should be enough of a clue that over 10 percent of Windows machines are still on XP and Vista, while there's over 40 percent more of the market on 7 than on 8, to be able to tell that people don't like to assume.

It's like the U2 iTunes debacle again. After that, Bono said: "Oops � I�m sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea � might have got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that thing.

"A drop of megalomania, a touch of generosity, a dash of self-promotion, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn't be heard. There�s a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it."

...there are Reasons, that this PC, I'm currently writing from, does not sport a Windows-System... and it isn't an Apple, neither...
Sometimes I think, that I might be a bit too neurotic, but the Problem seems to be, that the Mainstream of Society has become completely naive... one can only do these and similar Things with (and to) a naive Society

Next thing,they'll try to sell you gadgets,T-shirts and Bibles..... All downloaded of course!



well they never "pushed" anything into my Macs,so far

Panama Red, I have no such problem on my Windows 7 system and maybe because I followed the procedures in the following article:

How to stop windows spying and windows 10 upgrad issues etc

It's worth reading.

I don't have problems on my 3 Windows 7 systems but I can't tell you why ......

Where would i look to see if this is sitting on my computer?
I thought I blew through a large amount of GBs recently that I couldn't account for.

Did an update and did not install the "updates" in Robert's article for what that's worth....MS has ways of getting what they want anyway.
Seems like they have been awful bold lately. Clearly the lack of competition in the OS market has driven them mad.

Anyone know how to get rid of the "Update to Windows 10" nag-ware in my Taskbar?
The process has the insidious name of "GWX".

DIH:
Read and follow this article to get rid of the nagging Windows 10 icon: Get rid of the Windows 10 nagging icon

Yeah Duke, remove KB2505438. That is the culprit but also remove the others in the article I posted you as they are "telemetry" updates for spying on your system activity and are part and parcel of the WIN 10 preparation upgrade process. Panama Red's link is also very good advice.

'Privacy' seems to have become an obsolete concept at some point in the development of the digital world. Nowadays people take it for granted that the Big Brother is always watching everything they do in the web.

This MS stuff is simply a continuation of this trend, and doesn't surprise me in the least.

I wondered why after the last updates that my machine went to Slow Town. If they keep down loading patches, I will have to buy a better machine just to run unwanted patches from Microsoft. Thanks for the Heads up guys.

I have elected to turn off update downloads and I check them out carefully on a number of forums before deciding if I will load them. MS is becoming a real pain in the arse. (can I say that on the forum?)

Thanks PR and Robert!

Well, I got rid of the icon and about 4.5 GB of data that was hanging around, probably just in case.

Good night! The company of Gates has become the antithesis of what the likes of Gates, Jobs, etc. set out to do - autonomous computers with no need for the "mainframe".

I don't want to be the tinfoil-hatted reactionary, but really, this is getting ridiculous. My static drive is tight on space as it is, but more important is the presumptuousness and uninvited intrusiveness by M$. Like I said on a previous thread, you have no idea what's going across that wire any more.

Thanks, PanamaRed & RW.

The sad thing is that you don't even need to wear a tinfoil hat anymore - most of that crap has now become reality in the form of ever increasing surveillance by governments and corporations.

I'd gladly get rid of Windows completely, but unfortunately there are no true alternatives if one wishes to play computer games like WOFF easily and without problems.

Does WOFF run on Linux?

Banjoman: I have no idea how good the Windows emulators are on Linux, but I imagine that's what it would take.

Hasse: I would get rid of Windows as well, but as you say, that's not possible for WOFF (though I can unplug from "teh intarwebz" and still run). What gets me is the creeping obtrusiveness of it all. Open your Task Manager and if you can tell what even 1/10th of what those processes and services are doing, you'll get a "Golden Geek" award from me. Your "personal computer" isn't personal any more. Criminee, I've written real-time code in hexidecimal & an half-decent in in a number of coding languages, and I won't get into the Registry without a backup and careful, step-by-step guidance. What of the average consumer? My mother-in-law did her own Windows 10 upgrade and had no idea all that information was being sent back to M$.

More and more, it's assumed in so many aspects of life that you have some sort of device that connects you to the internet. And more and more we trade our privacy - and control - for convenience.

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