Well, seeing that because Windows 10 works for you, which is fine, you then decide that others have nothing to complain about and declaring their worries to be paranoia. You're not the centre of the universe; what works for you doesn't mean it's everyone else's experience. Still, good for you that Windows 10 worked out for you.

I've witnessed this optional being ticked on a friend's machine. The download Windows 10 update was optional but ticked. The problem was that even though KB3035583, the update that starts off this whole OS upgrade process, was removed and hidden by the user, it came back due to it being updated by MS and being turned into a recommended update. So if you have Windows Update set to automatically install important updates and you have recommended updates treated as if they're important, then KB3035583 will automatically install, starting off the fun and games with the Windows 10 upgrade rigmarole. Said user has now changed Windows Update to be manually run and that recommended updates aren't treated the same as important.

There are also some registry fixes that disable GWX, the reservation process and the upgrading of the OS, which has been linked to in an above post.

BTW, "mistake" my arse...

Again, I know the update downloads without asking. People are saying the installation starts without asking, which is a very different thing.

Come on Stig. Even Microsoft admitted doing it. Believe the posts and links.

Wake up mate.

I just looked on my dual boot 8.1 and windows 10 pc where I have not used the 8.1 for several days, but it had some updates ready to be installed from last time I used it, but I did not install them (had other things to do at the time). The windows 10 optional update was ticked automatically.

I haven't had any W 10 updates of any kind downloaded on either my W8.1 or my W7 PCs. Maybe it's because the first thing I do when I install any Windows is restrict it to Important updates only? Any others I find out what the update does, before I allow it.

But I do think Microsoft should be forced to state on the main update list the purpose of each and every update, Important or Optional, just so we can choose whether we want it or want to uninstall it.

All I know is, I have a PC still running Windows 8 and it automatically does updates and it hasn't magically ended up on Windows 10.

I gave my old laptop (Thinkpad x61) to my step-mother and it had nothing but problems with Windows 10.

Leaving aside the annoying process of actually getting Windows 10 on there (digging up an old 32bit Win7Pro license, installing and activating it, then upgrading to Win10Pro 32bit, and activating it, before finally wiping the drive and clean installing 64bit Win10Pro and letting it reactivate), the horrible don't-completely-shutdown-fastboot thing that arrived with Windows 8 caused the laptop to sometimes boot up with a blank screen.

After disabling that fastboot mode another problem cropped up. Sometimes (multiple times per week), after logging in, the start menu and taskbar would be completely unresponsive. The task manager could be brought up with ctrl-alt-delete but the computer couldn't even be shut down, a forced poweroff was the only way out.

I found lots of reports of this issue online but none of the solutions worked.

My step-mother is now happily running Linux Mint 17.2 on the laptop with no problems at all.

My laptop which is running Win10 just did a whole series of updates and I now have no on screen mouse pointer and my touchpad/keys are unesponsive.

This makes no sense at all. If your step-mother is happy running Linux, this implies she is only doing basic stuff eg surfing, emails etc. (I doubt she is a power Linux user).

Then surely upgrading to Windows 10 was rather pointless. She would probably been just as happy with Windows 7. Also changing to 64bit is only necessary if pc has more than 4GB Ram.

Yes, that's right.


It's not "more than" 4GiB of RAM, it's 4GiB or more (and the laptop had 4GiB). There are also additional security features and optimisations to 64bit Windows.

You're right that she'd probably be just as happy running Windows 7 as Linux Mint but, those levels of happiness being equal, i'm happier that she's now on Linux (since i'm the one saddled with keeping all my relatives machines running smoothly and i find Windows to be a huge PITA to maintain and problem-solve compared to Linux).

Its the icon on the bottom right of the screen.

Help guys...

I did a full system recovery job on my laptop yesterday, and now on the startup wizard it is asking me to enter a product key for Windows 10. Any idea where I might find this? Will it be on the bottom of the laptop somewhere, or maybe in the box/packaging?

It's an Asus laptop.

I'm beginning to think I've royally buggered it up!

If there is a Skip button, use that.

So, what's the background? Is this a new PC with Windows 10 on it or did you do an upgrade?

I'll check to see if there's a skip button when I get home in a little bit, but I don't think there was. I could be wrong of course.

It's a 2012 machine that was running Windows 8 when I bought it.

Did you do an in-place upgrade from Windows 8 to 10 first? If not, you don't get a valid licence.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'in-place', but I assume I did it right. I upgraded to 8.1 via the Store when that came out, and then reserved 10 using the icon in the bottom right when that appeared. The upgrade took place using that, and not the Media Creator tool or anything else like that.

I have managed to get the laptop running by using an external USB mouse but when checking the Device Manger the touchpad is not working; I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling and updating the driver but no luck.

Sure but it would be a bit silly NOT to put extra RAM in if you want to use 64bit.

If you did a successful upgrade doing the method you describe, then you have a valid licence.

Why did you do a 'system recovery' and how?

In-place Upgrade means Upgrading (or reinstalling Windows) without deleting/formatting the existing Windows.

ie It is not a Clean Install and is performed by clicking Upgrade Now or running setup.exe from DVD/USB or mounted iso.

Windows must be running at the time, and not in Safe Mode.

Yes I know what that is, the rest of our Windows PCs have been upgraded to 10.

The point is that on that PC, the icon is there in the bottom right but Microsoft hasn't forcibly installed the Windows 10 upgrade on the computer as others here are suggesting has happened.

Windows silent updates basically do seem to f--- up many a machine and so the only solution is to hold the power button for 6 secs and then restart and its normally fine (after its done its thing).....always seems to catch the mrs at the wrong moment when she just wants to do something and the system sort of goes half asleep

Can't praise Windows 10 enough. It's transformed the performance of my laptop, and it's a huge improvement user wise over 8.1.

Every time with have a new OS not just Windows there are hundreds if not thousands of posts from bewildered computer users.

The bottom line is that a significant proportion of the population should never be allowed anywhere near a computer as they simply don't know what the hell they are doing.

They blame just about everyone from the likes of MS, Apple etc. right up to the Pope. The majority of the time the reason for the faults lies with the owner, not the hardware not the software.

However, just as it is with driving, these people are good drivers whilst everyone else is a total ass.

My experience of Windows 10 so far is one of quiet satisfaction, both with the upgrade and the system as a whole. It makes Windows 7 look and feel dated - time to move on.