Avoid the Windows 10 Anniversary Update for now

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I’m just seeing too many problems. If you have Windows 10, block the upgrade to Win10 Anniversary Update. I think Microsoft has already stopped rollin
[See the full post at: Avoid the Windows 10 Anniversary Update for now]

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“MS-DEFCON 0”
Is this the first time You go out of your own scale?

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“For Win10 users, let’s just put it at MS-DEFCON 0.”

Is this new MS-DEFCON record?

And there are a number of possibilities to explain Microsoft’s decision to patch the night before a planned major release —

1) One or more major bugs were known but the potential damage to Microsoft’s reputation if the release was delayed was deemed more significant than the consequences to users of defective patching.

2) Hubris.

3) Stupidity. Hanlon’s razor suggests we give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt.

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For now i went over and don’t seem to be having troubles. except it removed an Intel Compatibility app blocked it. Said would cause trouble with data and pc problems. I have backed everything up and have a copy on external drive. so far so good. It did change a whole bunch of settings . I went back thru and set them the way they were before where applicable. new ones i left alone.

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Upgraded last night and not had a problem (except store being put back on the taskbar). Did take over an hour with various reboots, so not sure how this will fly in the corporate environment

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“…I believe we’re living on borrowed time. PC Armageddon will come, and I’m convinced it’ll have “Win10 Cumulative Update” written all over it.” April 8, 2016

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3053701/microsoft-windows/block-windows-10-forced-updates-without-breaking-your-machine-part-2.html

You called it!

Best Windows Ever 🙂
JF

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This is more like an unholy mess, and less an Armageddon. But it’ll happen.

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I think you nailed it… (I;d never heard of Hanlon’s Razor. Must be Occam’s little brother.)

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Yep. It’s that bad.

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Hi Woody. I have been following this ongoing MS fiasco since Win 10 was first released back in October 2015 along with MS’s new Surface and Surface Book. It doesn’t seem to get better.

I have now had 3 rock solid work systems running 8.1 and 8.1 Pro for the past 2+ years, with Malwarebytes & Kasperski, Adblock and others standing guard. They are all on local accounts only, signed out from MS.

Can you think of any overwhelming reason/s or benefit[even one] why someone like me should EVER switch to 10?

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Hi Woody – I took the anniversary update yesterday on an old sony vaio laptop. I don’t know if anyone spotted this, but M$ have been incredibly crafty (again). Let me explain…

Previously I had done a clean install of W10 on the same machine. You may remember that back then, you had a choice of ‘express settings’ or ‘customize’. If you went ‘customize’ you could knock out most of the rubbish before you even got to W10 proper and save yourself a ton of time going through all the privacy settings, for example.

On the anniversary upgrade, when it’s downloaded and done with all the faffing, you arrive at a similar screen. ‘Welcome XXXXX’ and a big ‘get started’ button in the bottom right. But did you notice the ‘I’m not XXXXX’ in the bottom left? Well, guess what? Click on that and you go through to all those menus again (like when I did a clean install) where you can turn a lot of stuff off again, before W10 starts proper. Very handy.

One particularly nice surprise is that you also have the choice to opt out of Edge being your browser and Groove being your music player.

In fact, after going through these menus – before getting to W10 proper – as far as I can tell, every setting for appearance, privacy and apps has remained entirely untouched.

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Win10 Rollback Period now 10 days?

“Windows Supersite, which spotted this development, also contacted Redmond regarding the change and received a reply to the effect that based on user data, Microsoft had observed that most people who are going to rollback do so within the first few days of an upgrade.”

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/microsoft-slashes-windows-10-rollback-period-with-anniversary-update-1326051

JF

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Installed Win 10 anniversary update last night on a HP Z Book mobile workstation G3,(Win 10 Pro edition). BSOD with “Driver Power State Failure post upgrade & had to re-install Bluetooth, audio, microphone and wireless (Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 8260) drivers. The audio (microphone and speakers) were not recognised and the Wi-Fi was disabled in Device Manager. Thankfully post re-install of the W10 drivers all appears to be working ok.

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Man oh man….

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That’s the right attitude!

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Fugeddaboudt Hanlon’s Razor Woody.

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Updated yesterday (Work Laptop) Kaspersky Internet Security Suite 2016, licence file missing…. needed reactivated. My Remote server admin tools vanished and needed reinstalled!!

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& THIS is why I am going to wait till 2019-2020 to go for Win10.

& Woody, what would Defcon 0 be? Patches are going haywire, don’t install unless you want a brick for a computer?
Then again, that description sounds more like a Defcon -3.

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According to Wikipedia, “Never assume malice when stupidity will suffice.” I’ve also heard it stated, “Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.”

This issue, especially with forced updates from Microsoft, is one reason why I’ll never run Windows 10 at home. In fact, the next laptop I buy will likely be a refurbished one with Windows 7 on it (to use as a backup in case my current laptop dies). Or maybe I’ll get one with Windows 8.1 and install Classic Shell, at least I could get support for a couple more years.

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http://windowsreport.com/partition-disappears-windows-10-anniversary-update/

This has happened before (August 15).

Just something else for you to add to your list.

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Hi Woody,
Quick report: I updated on Tuesday on ASUS ROG laptop. All seemed well until tried to play World of Warcraft. Of all games to break, it rendered WoW un-launchable: hard memory read errors. Perhaps driver related, not sure and did not attempt updates to Intel + NVidia drivers (perhaps should have tried).
Rolled back (very easy) and all now well in the world (of warcraft).

Andy

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Does Neil Carboni’s “Configure…” utility block the Anniversary Upgrade since it is technically not an update?

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The only explanation for this one is BOHICA

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Eh?

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Good question – I don’t know.

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Let me rephrase this : since we’ve noticed that a huge number of people rolled back from W10 in the first few days, either because they immediately hated what they saw or because they had not intended to upgrade, just grab the digital rights and run away, we decided to make it much more difficult to roll back.

So we could keep many more disgruntled customers who don’t like our product. Because the more customers we have who don’t like us, the happier we are.

Notice that, in contemporary marketing-speak, the opposite would pass muster as well : since we’ve noticed that very few people took advantage of the rollback feature, we decided to cut it down to 10 days, because keeping it would eat bits away from us. Or something.

Lie, obfuscate, lie again, and keep moving the goalposts so nobody can keep up. That’s a nice way of winning hearts and minds and make friends all over the world.

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A common acronym that accurately describes Microsoft’s heavy handed behavior that leaves users with few or no options.

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Bend Over, Here It Comes Again.

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Bend Over Here It Comes Again!

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Absolutely BOHICA

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@oxbridgelee

https://www.askwoody.com/2016/avoid-the-windows-10-anniversary-update-for-now/comment-page-1/#comment-94685

“On the anniversary upgrade, when it’s downloaded and done with all the faffing, you arrive at a similar screen. ‘Welcome XXXXX’ and a big ‘get started’ button in the bottom right. But did you notice the ‘I’m not XXXXX’ in the bottom left? Well, guess what? Click on that and you go through to all those menus again (like when I did a clean install) where you can turn a lot of stuff off again, before W10 starts proper. Very handy.”

Sounds like the M$ dirty trick of changing the red x to mean ‘I accept Win10’. Is that about it? essentially?

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One thing nice about Virtual Machines. Copy it off, make the changes. If something goes wrong, copy the original back. Copy/Paste is a lot easier than rollback, reformat and reinstall, factory restore, etc, etc!!!!

Imaging is also easier, though it usually takes a little longer both ways.

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@Clairvaux;

” in contemporary marketing-speak, the opposite would pass muster as well…”

M$, master of Doublethink, Newspeak, and/or Doublespeak.

“Down the memory hole.”

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Ah, BOHICA! Now I understand….

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[thwap!] <- palm to forehead. I shoulda remembered to Google it.

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In your IW article you nailed one of the main problems with Windows 10 updates… “There’s one conclusion that rings out loud and clear: Windows 10 desperately needs a way to control forced updates.”

The other (IMO) equally serious problem is the bundling of multiple updates into a single update. Bundling can dramatically increase the chance of there being at least one “poison pill” inside. Just one is needed to potentially cause major problems.

And there’s no way to avoid the poison one(s) other than to avoid the entire bundle.

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Absolutely true.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3029659/microsoft-windows/10-hurdles-to-windows-10-adoption.html#slide3

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in services CDPUersvc 8f4c4

Description failed to read Description error

code 15100

What’s is this

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. . . and all this will happen again . . .

(BSG reference.)

~ Group "Weekend" ~

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If you think about it for a moment, doesn’t it make sense that M$ would be hell bent on using the upgrade to force all of your previous settings for privacy, appearance and such, to revert back to their own defaults?

It’s very, very easy done too. I mean who would expect to find access to all those setup settings just by clicking ‘I’m not XXXX’? Miss it and your chance is gone. No wonder the upgrade breaks so much stuff in the process, when everything is flipped back on, when you’d already turned it off.

It was identical to using ‘custom settings’ after a clean install – complete with sliders to turn stuff on and off – even a new screen to change default programs like your browser and music player.

So far, on two laptops, despite the upgrade (now 3 days in), everything still works as per my original settings. Nothing has been changed, Cortana is still off, data is still where I left it, external devices all work and even the background screen color I’d set has remained the same.

So yes, exactly the same as the M$ dirty trick of changing the red x to mean ‘I accept Win10’.

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@oxbridgelee;

Thanks for the info.

Wonder if McCord, Segreti and the CREEP gang have been hired by M$FT?

Hanlon’s Razor n/a anymore.

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in services CDPUersvc the parameters in correct when you change to Auto or disable

messaging service is the same in Event viewer only one load pref counters instead of two

craig

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I saw an article on how to defer the upgrade which stated to check the “Defer Upgrades” box on the Advanced Options for Windows Update. I don’t have this box. Am I going to have to edit the registry.

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This crap installed itself here. LAN internet access screwed, no sound, apps deleted, freezes, boots to black screen, I now have a totally unusable PC.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I though this PC is mine and I had a licence to use the software. I don’t recall ever giving permission for MS to destroy it.

Windows 10 stuff duly deleted and Windows 7 installed. Never again will I install Windows 10.

Strangely enough, it feels rather like being let out of prison.

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I honestly don’t know either – I’m sorry.

In theory it should change ALL update activity on your system to require your initiation – but I have not tested it specifically to see if whole new operating systems like Version 1607 build 14393 might take alternate paths. There is no reason Windows 10 can’t be more complex than it looks under the covers, especially since the only choices Microsoft overtly offers are “now” or “in 3 to 4 months”.

Also, there are probably ways Microsoft can push updates outside of the normal means. Such “emergency” update pathways have been in Windows for a long while now, if you believe the reports of cases of XP or Vista getting forced updates. It’s why on the systems I need to be absolutely sure of I also Disable the Windows Update service AS WELL AS blocking the Windows Update sites using my firewall setup.

If I have to spend a little effort reconfiguring to be able to request updates, so be it.

Microsoft apparently still thinks that because they have oriented Windows 10 to be a “consumer” OS that the problem of being able to precisely control when and whether updates occur can just be forgotten. Uh, no, it can’t.

-Noel

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Absolutely true. VMs are way cool.

I have VMware Workstation and my VMs are hosted from a RAID 0 array of SSDs.

Saving or restoring a VMware “Snapshot” takes literally just a few seconds.

Never has experimentation been so easy.

-Noel

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I can say, from personal experience, altering Win 8.1 with tweaks and 3rd party software to eschew Metro/Modern Apps and to optimize the desktop for productivity, stability, and privacy is quite doable, and can effectively push the “end of support” date out to something reasonable while the high tech world mulls over what to do about Windows 10. I’ve been running Win 8.1 on my workstation since 2013, and I’ve even resurrected Aero Glass. Yes, Classic Shell is an essential component.

More about my setup here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173976-craving-an-updated-ui-experience-re-skin-windows-81/

-Noel

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Are you running Windows 10 Home?

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no windows pro fresh install

Craig

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windows pro version fresh install

Craig

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I’m glad I saw this post from Noel tonight — the part about
“Also, there are probably ways Microsoft can push updates outside of the normal means. Such “emergency” update pathways have been in Windows for a long while now, if you believe the reports of cases of XP or Vista getting forced updates.
It’s why on the systems I need to be absolutely sure of I also Disable the Windows Update service AS WELL AS blocking the Windows Update sites using my firewall setup.”

I think sometime in the past year I had mentioned, or had queried about, actually disabling the Windows Update *service* when we are between our (Woody-guided) monthly patching update sessions, and Woody responded here that he strongly advises not to do that (I’m afraid that I forget his reasons why) — so I enabled mine again at that time, and I have since had it enabled for many months.

(I don’t use either of the third-party blocking programs to avoid Get-Win-10, I have just been as careful as I could be with the updates I’ve installed for my Win 7, and it has been safe so far.
I do have automatic Windows Updating turned off in the Windows Update program, and have done so for the past year.)

But today, my Peerblock history has shown several rejections per hour of a “Microsoft” labeled IP address (65.52.108.163)
that is trying to communicate with my computer (whether the contact is initiated from within or without, I don’t know), when the computer has been sitting idle (as far as I know it was idle at those times) and connected to the internet. This is unusual — I don’t usually see that entry on the Peerblock history log.

Anyway, whether it is something innocent or not, I’m feeling jumpy now about Microsoft’s next moves, and I’d hate to have Win 10 forced on me now, after all the anguish of the last year.

And then I saw Noel’s comment above about emergency pathways that MS can use to force things through, and how he turns off the Windows Update service to be extra-careful with some machines.

So for tonight, I’ve turned off the Windows Update service on my computer (I’ll be shutting down the computer in half an hour anyway). Just feel jittery about that company’s M.O.

Should I not disable that service if I am not a “techie” person and don’t understand the potential consequences?
Are others disabling it at the moment, for extra security, even on their main computer?

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Also, I am wondering what the Microsoft update sites are that Noel blocks with his firewall — is it the addresses in the following list?
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb693717.aspx

Does anyone have the IP numbers for the Microsoft update sites? 🙂

[blocking by IP number is the only way I think I can block things, whether with Peerblock or with my firewall (which is part of Norton Internet Security and not easy for me to configure).]

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Yes, Windows 10 Home.

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Ah, that explains why you don’t have the “Defer Upgrades” box – it only appears on Pro machines. I believe (but can’t yet prove) that the method described here will work:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3053701/microsoft-windows/block-windows-10-forced-updates-without-breaking-your-machine-part-2.html

I can’t prove it because I don’t have a machine just yet with the upgrade queued up and ready to run through Windows Update.

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Because I had to put new drive in

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Update forced itself through last night, now the system appears bricked. Not sure yet, but at this point, after bios, I simply get the black screen cursor flash indefinitely. I am going to try to boot into safe mode and uninstall the update, but booting into safe mode when you can’t boot into windows is not as easy as it was in 7 (another stupid change).

If safe mode fails me, I’ll try recovery fixes.

That fails, it’s time to pull the drive and see if I have one of the ‘wiped boot partition’ issues I have been reading about. If that isn’t the case, I’ll move everything to an external and reinstall windows.

Thank you, Microsoft for creating so much work for me.

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What version of Windows were you running?

Go straight to Reddit and ask John Wink what to do next. You may be able to help many people.

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windows 64 bit pro

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Did you ever get anywhere with this? Having the exact same issue. Straight after BIOS just get the flashing cursor.

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