In a word, TANSTAAFL.

One answer: Turn off auto updates. You probably don't need them if you have good virus protection that does NOT come from MSFT (e.g., Avira or Avast.) I haven't run auto updates in over 15 years, and have had only 1 virus problem (and I didn't lose anything but a few hours time.)
The other option is using Linux instead of Windows, which does involve learning a slightly different interface, and giving up some of your favorite programs (although they can still be run in a virtual machine with Win7 and VirtualBox software if you really need them.)
Is your privacy important, or not?

I hurried to post some links on how to remove the alert and prevent the upgrade, but I did not express my opinion: This ploy of MS stinks.

Microsoft has made many wrong decisions recently, including crippling their programs eg (the 'ribbon' bars do not give access to the tools I had before), mistaking work computers for youtube/Facebook access units, and now trying to force the use of an OS that, rumor says, may be subscription and cloud based.

Even to use Win7, I have steadily had to uninstall recent versions of, for example, Word, and replace them with the older versions that actually had the abilities I needed. Everything on recent MS OS seems to be made into a toy.

We run our medical software on MS OS so it is important to me that this software continue to be prevalent and useful. It would be nice if Microsoft were of similar opinion.

Jan, tool user

This is good time to move to LINUX. I have UBUNTU on most of my machines and don't have to put up with all the nonsense.

We, the people, need to pursue the things we want and stop those we don't want. I've always thought that was part of the democratic process, we vote. I'm getting mostly internet ads for stuff that I already bought, they are wasting their time advertising what I no longer need or want. I think we could express our vote to Microsoft by downloading Windows 10 on at least one computer each, leaving the spy stuff in, and using it for looking up nothing but porn. If it's personally objectionable just set up some macro's to do it automatically and leave your monitor turned off. Microsoft would be overwhelmed with data on porn usage. That will screw up their data bases and show them their scheme for making money off your personal information and habits just won't work.

Sometimes now when I get these calls from the "Windows Technician" that tells me my computer is sending out errors, I just play along with them until they actually want to get into my computer or ask for some personal information. A few have gone over an hour (It's great to have free time to harass someone else once in a while). It really ticks them off when I tell them "I'm just f___ing with you. I'm just trying to waste as much of your time as I can to prevent you from ripping off some poor elderly person that doesn't understand your scheme." Recently they've actually stopped calling me.

I just might update to Windows 10 on one of my systems, I've heard some good things about it and I've really got little to hide. If only they had finalized a version of XP, the one running my CNC machine has been working perfectly for years, ever since I took it off line.

OMG!
Whatever happened to MYOB?
My time has finally come. I don't think I'm going to like the brave new world. I'm tempted to pull an Edward G. Robinson as in "Soylent Green." If you think you'll be able to circumvent the nosiness, none-of-your-goddam-business, you are mistaken. Microsoft and others are not about to give up on their intrusion on your personal business. Sooner or later, they getcha with a gotcha.

Microsoft isn't alone in exercising what I call persistent intrusion. With the latest iOS upgrade, my iPhone keeps insisting I should enter my iTunes password, so I can take advantage of an iCloud account. Yeah, like I really want my phone to automatically upload all my phone contacts, photos, and text messages to an online account, to be hacked or used by Apple or government snoopers.

I spent too many years in the bowels of the intelligence agencies to advise people to go along with this nagging for personal information that incessantly bombards us. Ironically, I can see a day coming when some government agency will consider a sparsely populated online profile an indication for suspicion, placing such individuals on a watch list for domestic terrorism.

Hi johnpe!

Your link is helpful, but from 2010 and XP in nature. Here is a link to some more info on ridding yourself of Win10

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...

MrGolem says:
Here is the answer Microsoft does NOT want you to know about. I posted a question and answered my own post with a solution. In the time that has past, I had time to confirm it works.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...

My own second reply offers the cleanup solution to remove what I called a Virus. In the way this upgrade offer was forced on our systems and how much work is needed to remove it, I can find no other word than VIRUS to describe it. Judge by yourselves.

Removing KB3035583 will remove the Icon in the taskbar but Windows will still try to infect your system.

You need to remove KB2952664 (Win7) or KB2976978 (Win8 and 8.1) using the solution in the other link.

Keep in mind, the Icon can be uninstalled from the Control Panel - Programs and Features - View Installed updates and searching for KB3035583 and accept the reboot.

When you come back, then, from DOS (Command line and described in my other post) remove the Updater for your appropriate Windows Version.

Do not despair. On a friend's system I had to run the uninstall command 18 times in a row before I removed ALL the VIRUS files. Once you run the DOS Command and remove 1 instance of the offending file, use the UP ARROW to REPEAT the last command making sure NOT TO REBOOT until ALL the copies are removed. At a certain point you will get a message that the KB is NOT installed, then do the reboot.

Do not forget to Check for Updates again when you have finished and ask to HIDE THESE UPDATES (right-click, Hide), (in Win 8.x do not use the Update App but instead search and use the OLD Windows Update that let's you pick and choose), there also, choose to HIDE the KBs.

Hope this helps.

Jan

Most interesting. After reading the posts on this site and several others re: W10 I went into my laptop and found the "virus" and uninstalled it. Then removed the notification from the whatchamacallit at the bottom. Now it doesn't bug me anymore when I turn on the laptop. Turned off the auto updates. Just for good measure.
Now I've just recently added a Mac and am learning that as I post. Not running MS on this one. Already seems to be easier to do stuff.
Easy is good in my world of computing. I don't have the mind for the code or something. That would be my son who is gifted that way.
Thanks to all on Galts Gulch for the education re: 'peters.

To remove the annoying and obnoxiously intrusive reminders uninstall update KB3035583 on your system. The messages will go away after you reboot. When you see that update again in Windows Update right click and select hide. There is no need upgrade to the obnoxious and personally invasive windows 10 if you don't want to.

I do not understand much about computers. I don't
have an Internet computer at home. I use the ones
at the library. From what somebody in these com-
ments said, I understand that you can circument
Microsoft by using Google, which is what I us-
ally use. But I have long held the opinion that
if you don't want the whole world (or at least ev-
erybody in the United States) to see something,
don't put it on the computer.

Yes it is...no matter what's behind it all.

I understand that if you shut off windows updates, you'd be safe... which I did a long time ago because of all the problems the updates caused.

That is the price of free for Microsoft. Apple thankfully doesn't take the ad route.

A lot of programs are Microsoft only sadly. I would love to use just my Apple devices but currently that isn't the case. Therefore I still use Windows 7.

Private company, not the government. Free to not use their products, armed government agents will not force you to do so.

Sounds a little bit like assault or tortious interference to me.

This can be stopped. Please read http://www.komando.com/tips/325534/mi...

However, I stopped using Windows of any flavor back when they killed Windows XP. I now use Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. This is linux based software. It is awesome and it is free. However it is not for the faint of heart. If you are lacking in basic programming then you may struggle to keep it running smoothly as it is not meant for folks that rely on Microsoft just doing all of the hard work for them. But if you want to stretch yourself then give it a try. Many resources exist that can walk a person through any situation that may arise in its usage.

Thanks for the update j. CNET can show you how to control windows updates here: http://www.cnet.com/how-to/turn-off-w...

This is part of something I posted on the thread about antivirus software, but since it's more relevant to this one...

With news that Windows 10 is basically a comprehensive spyware suite written right into the fabric of the OS itself and which therefore cannot be removed, that's an absolute no-go and grounds for boycotting MS if not switching to something else altogether (Apple is run by a goose-stepping eco-fascist, so they won't get a dime from me. Maybe Linux?) I urge everybody here to make complaints to MS about this outrage and to encourage others to do the same. Perhaps more alarming than the spyware that is Windows 10 itself, is the mentality at MS that thinks personal privacy is obsolete and can be blithely violated - also the sheeplike acceptance of that gross violation by the millions who've clicked the "I Accept" block during their Windows 10 install. The time to draw a clear line on privacy is now. [On a tangential note, I think the advent of the digital age has made it necessary to enact some explicit and sweeping protections of privacy in the electronic age, codified in law - protections against governmental and private violations of privacy alike. I'm not a lawyer and therefore have no idea how much of this is feasible, but I'm thinking the penalties attached to violating people's privacy via electronic means (or any other for that matter,) should be among the the most harsh this side of those for murder convictions. This party has to be brought to a screeching halt and the mess cleaned up, like right now.]

Since MS is even pushing elements of Win10 at users of Windows 7 and 8, along with the normal practice of disabling multiple startup services it's now imperative to turn off Windows Updates from the outset of any drive-wipe and Win7/8 clean install.

The updates are supposedly there to fix security holes and functionality bugs, but since Microsoft has left us no choice but to sever ourselves from their updating service altogether, I'm doing a standard "Nuke it from orbit - it's the only way to be sure" workaround:

1. Leave nothing personal on your system. Save any and all documents, photos, videos, whatever, to external media, not your system's HD;
2. To ensure that any data leftover from surfing is eradicated - usernames and passwords used for log-ins that may still be lurking in your browser's auto-fill or whatever; form data, cookies, etc. - do a complete drive-wipe / OS clean install every month or so.

If there's nothing residing on your system that's of use to any hacker, my thinking is that surfing with a system whose updates aren't installed only exposes you to here-and-now threats. True, I suppose it's possible you could pick up malware that could load a keylogger that steals your passwords on the fly, as you input them - so maybe this strategy too is flawed. Obviously it's vital to do regular password resets for every place you frequent, but if someone's able to harvest them immediately, that won't help much. (If there are any IT techies here, feedback and advice on this strategy is welcomed.)

Other than instant malware exploits, if you're doing a monthly drive-wipe and saving everything externally I don't see how the bulk of the Windows updates are needed in any case. There's a variety of alternative 'Net browsers from which to choose (for the moment I'm using Epic Privacy Browser,) so the latest-lousiest IE is not needed either. There're those functional elements like "Net framework 4" and Direct X that are bundled within the Windows updates, but I'm thinking those can be located and downloaded independently.

If Microsoft does not reverse this outrageous intrusion, presumably at some point the OS versions prior to Windows 10 will no longer run newer software or internet programming. At that point I guess I just stop using the internet altogether - or maybe do the occasional necessary bit of shopping during lunch hour at work?

I'm also wondering why, a full two decades after the internet really took hold on a world wide basis, there are still only three different OS options available to computer users - Microsoft, Apple and Linux. There should be dozens upon dozens of them by now, particularly with the violations of rights Microsoft is shoving at us and the ethical problem with buying anything from the noxious Apple company. Maybe it's just the sheer complexity of the product, but why aren't there as many OS brands as there are athletic shoe brands, microbrew beer brands, fast food franchise brands, toothpaste brands, clothing brands, soft drink brands, etc. Instead there are: three. Why?

Some articles on the subject:
http://www.techworm.net/2014/10/micro...
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/co...
https://boingboing.net/2015/08/10/win...
http://bgr.com/2015/07/31/windows-10-...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/8/...
.

.

Thanks, but I didn't like the Windows 8 GUI (NO to the freaking tiles and push to search). I am an organized person (I don't use search but once every six months and usually for someone else) and the tiles drive me nuts. Been a Windows admin since 95 so it's not exactly like I'm a newbie, but I really hate how Microsoft takes the "you'll do what we want or else" hardline on so many things. Yes, they partially brought back the menu with the 10 interface, but I want the tiles GONE on my desktop. All of them. And I really don't like the scroll-to-the-right to activate logout/etc. or to get to other functionality. Leave it on the Start/Windows button.

I have windows 7 and it sucks that came with my laptop. i bought it uses, and i unknowingly purchased it without the soft ware. As soon as i can find a used desktop that has XP, I'm going back to it. There are things i could do on XP that i can not do on 7. Therefore to me, i have been downgraded.

I am in the process of installing Linux on my daughter's new laptop right now.

You can stop the annoying alerts in W7 and W8.1 prompting to update to w10, at least for now, by hiding the "GWX Get Windows 10" icon and notification in the taskbar: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w....

You can also uninstall "update" KB3035583 that arranges for the prompts: http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to...

Also turn off the automatic updates in W7 or W8.1 so you can select what "updates" to install when prompted that new "updates" are available. When one shows up as available that you don't want, tell the system to hide it so it no longer appears in the updates available notices.

These methods have been publicized for several months and they do not guarantee that usoft won't do something sneaky in the future.

Windows continues to decline in marketshare, Apple continues to accelerate... Apple already more or less owns the consumer/home market for the same reason that people are sick of Microsoft and the slop it puts on the market. They still have control of the business market, but I think that will even begin to dissolve, Apple recently announced billions invested into enterprise software/systems.

Use a Mac or Linux, you will be much happier. Office 2016 was just released on the Mac ahead of the Windows version coming out a few months later, even Microsoft seems to be emphasizing the Mac. Parallels or VMWare Fusion allows you to run Windows apps acceptably when needed anyway.

It's time to consider other options in the computing OS space. I have reduced my microsoft/apple/google footprint to only those systems required by those that employ my services. I leave no personal info on those systems and log in only as an administrator or as a user supplied by the company. I maintain no email or contact lists on any system with internet network access. My goal is to remove as much personal information as I can from internet data caches.

I have opted to go with Linux based systems because the community oversight will slam shut attempts by private companies and governments to insert back doors and prying software. However, one still needs to maintain vigilance in any internet access because once it is off of your computer and on the net it is fair game.

I'll be glad when some enterprising young kid develops an open OS for cell phones that incorporates an encrypted mesh network that can handle BitCoin type transactions between individuals.