We have been receiving NUMEROUS reports of computers automatically upgrading to Windows 10 without input from the owner. Although Windows 10 is fine for many users, there may be reasons that you do not want to upgrade. For instance, older versions of Quickbooks are not compatible with it. There are also other software programs, like EagleSoft which may not run using Windows 10. Or, you may just be comfortable with your current version and just don’t want to upgrade.
Lately, Microsoft has been aggressively pushing the upgrade. The prompt for the upgrade will pop up and if the user does not decline or delay the upgrade, it will happen. What we’ve been seeing is that people who leave their computers on overnight are frequently returning to find the machine upgraded. This is because the computer is unattended for hours and no one is present to decline the upgrade.
If you are on a business network using a “domain”, this will not happen and you don’t have to worry about it. However, if you are on a “workgroup” or using an individual computer (at work or home), this upgrade may present a problem.
For those of you who do NOT want to upgrade to Windows 10 unexpectedly, we have found a tool called GWX Control Panel which will allow you to turn off the “Get Windows 10” notifications and disable the “Upgrade to Windows 10” behavior on Windows 7 and 8. You can click HERE to get that tool. The user guide can be found here. The tool can do many things, but to disable the notifications and the automatic upgrade, you just run the app. A window like the one below will appear:
The computer we took this screenshot on had Windows 10 already installed, so the upper left button is grayed out. You will see a button that says “Click to Disable ‘Get Windows 10’ App” instead of the grayed on which says “Click to Enable ‘Get Windows 10’ App (restore icon)”. Click that one and the button which says “Click to Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades”.
After clicking those two buttons, it is safe to just delete the file you downloaded for the GWX Control Panel app. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at support@internetpro.net or call 256-547-6817.