Windows 10 upgrade prompts are now interrupting weather reports

[midian182]

Anyone who hasn’t upgraded to Windows 10 will know how annoying the Microsoft popups that advise users to switch to its latest OS can be. Not only do they arrive quite frequently but often do so at the most inopportune moments.

On Wednesday morning, KCCI 8 News Meteorologist Metinka Slater discovered just how irritating this nagware really is, after a prompt appeared on her screen right in the middle of a live weather report.

As she was describing the conditions around Des Moines, Iowa, a recommended update alert that took up half the map suddenly appeared on her display. Trying to laugh off the incident, Slater said: "Microsoft recommends upgrade to Windows 10, what should I do? Don't you love when that pops up?"

The screen switched to another feed, but things didn’t get much better for Slater when her ‘clicker’ temporarily stopped working. “It’s that Windows 10, right? That’s what people are going to say. Don’t do it!” she joked.

Even though the incident was a minor one, it does highlight the often aggressive tactics Microsoft has used trying to achieve its goal of having Windows 10 running on 1 billion devices over the next two to three years.

In January, the Redmond company announced that future CPUs from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are only going to be compatible with its latest operating system. And in February, Windows 10 became a ‘Recommended update’ in the Windows Update application, rather than an optional one.

Whether KCCI 8 News will now switch to Windows 10 or just hope that the prompts don’t interrupt any more broadcasts is unknown.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/64618-now-windows-10-upgrade-prompts-interrupting-weather-reports.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Microsoft has missed the boat on the subtle sale and instead use the hammer approach, constantly pushing their products to the point they become annoying. People build loyalty to a product for all the things they like and Microsoft appears to be ignoring that strategy entirely.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Well I guess it would look a little weird if M$ were nagging us to switch to OS X in stead of Win 10. Just switch dammit. Stop frustrating yourselves then blame M$ for your frustrations.

 

[Puiu]

Microsoft has missed the boat on the subtle sale and instead use the hammer approach, constantly pushing their products to the point they become annoying. People build loyalty to a product for all the things they like and Microsoft appears to be ignoring that strategy entirely.

well, in their defence... it worked much better than expected.

 

[treeski]

Microsoft has missed the boat on the subtle sale and instead use the hammer approach, constantly pushing their products to the point they become annoying. People build loyalty to a product for all the things they like and Microsoft appears to be ignoring that strategy entirely.

I see what you're saying, but I think in this case MS is right to be so pushy. I don't think the average consumer would ever upgrade to W10 if MS took a subtle approach. Interface and feature set aside, W10 is a more secure operating system, and I think it's ultimately good if users are pushed to upgrade.

 

[davislane1]

W10 is a more secure operating system, and I think it's ultimately good if users are pushed to upgrade.

Corproations shouldn't force their products down people's throats...unless it's for their own good.

Amiright?!

 

[Panda218]

Shame their IT department for not having a group policy setup on all clients to disable the windows updates...

 

[NightAngel79]

Shame their IT department for not having a group policy setup on all clients to disable the windows updates...

Shame on them for not using Enterprise, which means this would not have even been an option. You cannot windows update to 10 on Ent. Must go through enterprise licensing.

 

[Capaill]

This worked for me:
Open the System Tray, click Customize, look for GWX and select "Hide notifications and icons".
Open Windows Update, click Installed Updates, look for KB3035583, right-click and Uninstall.
Then make sure you never let it get back in, in future updates.

 

[Adhmuz]

Priceless, but hilarious too

 

[Guest17]

Microsoft will never reach its goal of W10 on a billion machines. Just ask Intel.

 

[p51d007]

Better than a BSOD I guess

 

[amstech]

https://www.techspot.com/news/64253-new-app-offers-quick-easy-way-stop-pcs.html

 

[Per Hansson]

Best laugh I've had all day, thanks!

 

[robb213]

Shame their IT department for not having a group policy setup on all clients to disable the windows updates...

Shame on them for not using Enterprise, which means this would not have even been an option. You cannot windows update to 10 on Ent. Must go through enterprise licensing.

That or they don't actually manage their own WSUS server, and or just push through any update that gets released.

I find it strange that the IT department at somewhere like a news station would let this stuff slide through. I still have 0 mention of 10 on my 8.1 boot, but then again I check the contents of each update now manually.

 

[J spot]

This worked for me:
Open the System Tray, click Customize, look for GWX and select "Hide notifications and icons".
Open Windows Update, click Installed Updates, look for KB3035583, right-click and Uninstall.
Then make sure you never let it get back in, in future updates.

I've have uninstalled specific updates, only for the notification to start popping up again weeks later. But the thought that one could hide the notification from the System Tray never crossed my mind. That's a good idea, I'm surprised non of the articles on how to disable the update notification never mentioned it. I hope it works, since Microsoft acting like a trojan kind of company.

 

[lripplinger]

Yeah....epic FAIL. The poor woman there was like..WTF! Well, there is this fantastic little tool out there called GWX Control Panel that will get rid of that garbage. I do it on every customer computer that doesn't want that damn pop up!

 

[Panda218]

To any consumer who refuses to upgrade to win10

 

[GACrabill]

If Win10 is a free upgrade till 07/29 ... does the Win10 nag screen go away on 07/30 ??

Or does it then become a daily advertisement to buy Win10 ... NOW !!??

 

[captaincranky]

....[ ]....Open Windows Update, click Installed Updates, look for KB3035583, right-click and Uninstall....[ ]...

Well, I never patently accept what good ole M$ says to do with their updates, even "important" or "recommended" ones. So I read what they say the update is supposed to accomplish, before I ever hit "install".

With respect to KB-3035583, I distinctly recall reading, "this helps you to install Windows 10". Oh baby, baby, you could smell that piece of s*** coming from a mile away. As a result of un-ticking its little check box, I've never gotten one single notification about Windows 10, in any of my Windows 7 machines.

 

[Ascaris]

Well I guess it would look a little weird if M$ were nagging us to switch to OS X in stead of Win 10. Just switch dammit. Stop frustrating yourselves then blame M$ for your frustrations.

They kind of are pushing people to switch to OSX, though it's not their intent.

Your solution to the hyper-aggressive, inappropriate pressure MS is putting on us to upgrade to a product we don't want is to give in? No, I don't think I'll be doing that.

 

[Ascaris]

I see what you're saying, but I think in this case MS is right to be so pushy. I don't think the average consumer would ever upgrade to W10 if MS took a subtle approach.

Nor should the average consumer be doing such a thing, given the current state of the Windows installer. Upgrading in-place is potentially problematic and is inherently risky, and the average consumer's PC has accumulated years of cruft, PUPs, various bits of corrupt data, partially uninstalled programs, malware, and all kinds of other things that often make upgrades fail. The odds that a functional system will become a non-functional one are not zero, and the average consumer can't tell a backup from a backup camera... so when the rollback to 7/8 fails, as it frequently does after a failed 10 upgrade, the customer is left with a PC that won't boot, courtesy of Microsoft and its insistence that ordinary, non tech-savvy people perform an in-place OS upgrade on a PC whose existing installation is not in great shape.

Besides that... Microsoft has no business pushing as hard as they are. Let the customer know the offer is available, then shut up about it. If the customer wants to take advantage, he will; if not, he won't.

Interface and feature set aside, W10 is a more secure operating system, and I think it's ultimately good if users are pushed to upgrade.

Good for Microsoft, certainly. If they can get us all on Win 10, they won't have any more issues with people refusing to upgrade to another version that benefits Microsoft even more than the last version, since Windows is a "service" now, and there won't be any more incremental new versions, and updates are not optional. If you want the security updates and much-needed bug fixes, you're going to get whatever "features" MS wants you to have too. This push to convince people to upgrade will be the last one MS will ever have to make; after that, they own us, and convincing us to accept their plans for what will happen with our own hardware will not be necessary.

If MS wants your PC to do a lot more phoning-home... er, to have more telemetry, you'll have more telemetry; there will not be any avoiding it the way many people (self included) have by not installing the requisite updates to 7. If they want more ads (like GWX, Get Office, "Fun tips," start menu ads) on your PC, your PC will have more ads. If they eventually want to remove support for Win32 programs completely and require everyone to run only Windows Store apps, then that's what you're going to get.

Big changes or those of questionable popularity (like those listed above) used to require tacit approval from the customer. Those changes would be built into a new version of Windows, and if the person accepted that version of Windows, they've signaled their acceptance of those changes. This new system, though, writes Microsoft a never-ending blank check to change what your computer does in perpetuity. You're accepting any and all changes MS wishes to make... not just the changes they've already made, but every other change they can dream up from now until the end of time.

How much control over your own PC will you have? It depends. How much control does MS want you to have? That's how much you will have, and not a bit more.

 

[Ascaris]

With respect to KB-3035583, I distinctly recall reading, "this helps you to install Windows 10". Oh baby, baby, you could smell that piece of s*** coming from a mile away. As a result of un-ticking its little check box, I've never gotten one single notification about Windows 10, in any of my Windows 7 machines.

Me either. In the months following the release of the GWX adware and the resultant controversy, I was genuinely surprised that so many computer-savvy people were not screening each and every update that was being installed on their PC since the start. I had done that since Windows Update was born, and I had just assumed everyone "in the know" did it. Why wouldn't they? Don't people want to know and control what is being installed on their computers? I want to know every thing that changes on my PC!

There is a degree of irony here. Only the people who trusted MS enough to allow them free rein in installing updates would be given the experience (GWX) that so aptly demonstrates that MS can't be trusted. I suppose it makes sense, as those of us who never trusted them don't need the lesson.

 

[DAOWAce]

well, in their defence... it worked much better than expected.

Worked because it's free; not because of demanding people switch.