The Windows 10 Trojan is back .. *SIGH*

Yup .. I thought I had it all cleared out / off of my Windows 7 64bit machine, but it is back. When I startup I get window suggesting I upgrade to Windows 10. GWX.exe has returned. I had removed this update and all the files once, now I have to go and do it again. Is there anyway to stop MS-updates from installing this, like blacklisting the win 10 updates, or anything like that? I'm really getting really tired of being nagged by Microsoft and it's Windows 10 garbage. I have no intentions of moving to any MS OS above Windows 7. I use Windows XP, Windows 7 64 and Various flavors of Linux.

I just moved onto Linux mint

You can sort of blacklist it, but I question its effectiveness after getting a couple days ago the same one that I blocked earlier. Goes something like this:

- set Windows Updates to one of the manual modes (not automatic).
- Go to Installed Updates (bottom left corner). It will take a bit of time for the list to populate
- It probably came in on the last update so check those with the newest dates. In my case, it was update KB3035583.
- Right-click the offending update and choose Uninstall. You may have to reboot.
- Run Windows Update again and select Check for Updates. It will find that you're 'missing' this "important" update. Do not install it. Instead...
- Right-click the offending update and choose Hide Update

That should do it. If you want to verify that you blocked it, choose Restore Hidden Updates to see if it's on the list.

You can also wait a year from when the promotion began. Though you're missing out, unless you're using some legacy hardware.

yup, several times now microsoft 'resistance is futile' has reinstalled the kb files to add the annoying win 10 notice, i think they bury the files in windows defender updates as i dont allow the updates manually anymore. it pisses me off as i have to go and uninstall and then rehide all the damn updates yet again.

Stop auto update. Or not update at all.

If you decide to manual update, check a list of updates that you should not be installing
https://www.hackread.com/microsoft-updates-spy-on-windows7-8-users/

You ungrateful bastard! It was a Christmas gift from ms..

More seriously, turn off updates and use WSUS when needed.

post edited for testing purposes

My sister has Windows 10 on her laptop .. I don't see what I'm missing? I know it .. There are two in every crowd and I'm both of them! ;)

Will do.

I'm going to clean it out again and shut-off auto updates. I'll do everything manually from now on.

I've read everyone's ideas and I'll do what I can .. Thanks all.

the level of aggression they are using to try and get everyone to switch makes me very doubtful they have any intention of letting up after the free upgrade window expires. Going to the trouble of creating alternate updates to get around people that have explicitly disabled their previous nagware updates is pretty high tier on the invasive advertising meter. They must want everyone on it pretty badly.

It's the sort of thing I would expect from malware, Anti-virus companies, and Yahoo!. The fact that their willing and able to assert that measure of control over people's systems it something that lowers my respect, and trust level for MS as a whole. I did do the upgrade and I guess I like it better than 8.1 but not by much. Not wild about having an OS advertise to me. I thought advertising had gotten into almost everything until upgraded and started getting notifications to try Office 360.

There is a tool that does a bunch of things to kneecap GWX and the telemetry functions. Be sure to read the post detailing the tool, as it shuts down things like Skydrive.

MTRT by Spexdi - Microsoft Telemetry Removal Tool

Thanks .. Sabin_Stargem. Yes, I'll read the post first before doing anything.

Well said .. gooberking. My sister told me that she has been getting the office 360 thing to, which I think is an MS cloud based subscription service. She (sister) also mentioned being nagged to buy apps via the MS app store.

This. With MS continuing to try to sneak in Win10 as an update (along with the telemetry updates they keep trying to sneak in), Windows Update pretty much needs to be regarded as a hostile application and not be allowed to do anything without careful supervision.

I've given up trying to fight it (without actually upgrading to Win10, of course). I will just constantly decline or close that nag screen whenever it appears, a bit like how I close the nag windows that Avira Antivirus Free opens up, trying to get me upgrade to pay version.

You can also install the GWX Control Panel to block the Windows 10 updates along with SpyBot Anti-Beacon to block all the telemetry crap.