There has been much written about Windows 10 and how it forces users to upgrade from Windows 7/8 even if they don’t want to. How do you stop it? Luckily there are a few ways, 2 of which are shown in this post.
If you’re like me, you love Windows 7 (or maybe even 8), and have not intention of upgrading. Too bad Microsoft won’t help you there. The new Windows 10 is forcibly being installed on your system now, and you don’t get an option to decline the operation. Help in the name of third party software is here though, and I’ll show you a couple of ways to stop this upgrade.
Note: this site take no responsibility for any issues that may be caused by using the methods shown below. Please ensure your files are all backed up before making changes to your OS.
The first one is called GWX Control Panel, and is a small (2.4M) standalone program (or even installer if you wish). Some of the features GWX has are:
- The Disable ‘Get Windows 10’ App feature removes Microsoft’s “Get Windows 10” nagware app from your notification area.
- The Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades feature checks for system settings that leave you vulnerable to unwanted Windows 10 upgrades and gives you the ability to fix them.
- The Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades feature also restores your Windows Update control panel to its normal behaviour if it gets hijacked by Windows 10 advertisements or installers.
- The Delete Windows 10 Download Folders feature locates and deletes hidden Windows 10 installer files that Microsoft secretly downloads to your computer.
- The Delete Windows 10 Programs feature easily deletes hard-to-remove program files that are known to prepare your computer for Windows 10 upgrades.
It is important to note that GWX does not interfere with any ‘normal’ windows features such as Windows update or OneDrive which is good.
Another way to stop the forced W10 upgrade is a smaller pieces of software called Never 10 . This is only 85K in size and is probably easier than GWX above.
Working a little different to GWX control panel, Never10 does NOT prevent the installation of Windows updates, including the infamous Get Windows 10 (GWX) update KB3035583. Never10 simply employs Microsoft’s documented and sanctioned configuration settings to instruct it NOT to change the installed version of Windows. It does not install any software of it’s own to achieve the result.
What do you think about not having a choice whether you want to upgrade or not? Leave a comment below.