Microsoft silently preparing your PC for Win 10

[ThrashZone]

KB2990214
KB3035583
KB2952664
KB3021917 = 3/10/15 released
These were all for 7 that I noticed

 

[Melita]

Melita, were you thinking of the post by groze? The top three are for win7 the bottom three are for 8, 8.1

Thank you. I was responding to post #153 by Lady Fitzgerald. I have got it clear now about there being 4 of these:

KB2990214
KB3035583
KB2952664
KB3021917

Regards,

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Actually the top 4 are for win-7,
The forth was released 3/10/15 the first I suppose sniffer

You are correct; I forgot about that one (apparently I hid it when it was first offered).

 

[Anak]

Thanks to all for responding!

 

[ThrashZone]

Todays updates will be even more interesting I fear :/

LF I have issues remembering last week

 

[Kari]

Could some of you conspiracy theorists please educate me regarding this matter. It seems that I am constantly reading the different news than you and getting different information, not as factual as the news and information you get and on what you are basing your actions like stopping Windows Update completely and so on.

As we all well know, Microsoft will never upgrade your Windows 7 to Windows 10 without you specifically initiating the upgrade process. The thing puzzling me is what is "the devil" in an update which makes it possible for you later on to upgrade to Windows 10 if you so decide and want to, doing nothing if you don't want to upgrade or at most giving you a reminder when Windows is finally released that you could upgrade for free if you wish?

Please enlighten me!

Kari

 

[ThrashZone]

Not really,
As a simple example of personal preference
You have hidden my posts,
I have hidden win-10 upgrade updates for win-7.

 

[whs]

Kari, there is no conspiracy going on. Some people are just afraid that unforeseen things may happen when they are on automatic update. The description of the KBs in question does not help in that matter. I think MS should put out a clear and precise notice what these KBs are all about. That would calm the waters.

I personally think these KBs are benign. I classify them as PUPs and have not hidden them. I am curious what will happen the day they come into action.

 

[groze]

Kari,
Can you explain, why do they need to update the system now for the windows 10 upgrade, why don't they wait tell windows 10 is released and then put it the optional section? Remember one update was moved from optional to important.

 

[Kari]

The only purpose of this update is to get you notified about coming possibilities. It's of course totally OK to hide and block an unwanted update, however we will go to conspiracy theories when users start disabling Windows Update because of this.

A very good explanation, although at this point hypothetical can be found here:

An extract from that article: Microsoft hides a Windows 10 Easter Egg in Windows 7/8.1 systems - TechRepublic

If you investigate the Config.XML (Figure E), you'll see that the main content of the file consists of code blocks that are titled in phases. Beginning with None (presumably the dormant phase), you can see the phases play out the initial stages: AnticipationUX, Reservation, Reserved, RTM, and GA. I can imagine that during the AnticipationUX phase, there will be feature teasers very much like what you see during the Windows 8.x installation procedure. During the Reservation phase, you'll be prompted to reserve your copy of Windows 10. During the Reserved phase, you'll be informed that your copy has been reserved and that you'll be in the first group to get Windows 10. Next, you'll be informed when Windows 10 is Released To Manufacturing and when it is Generally Available.

 

[gregrocker]

It is not helpful to advise users to turn off Windows Updates or even set to Notify. I'll explain why I believe this more than ever now:

Because of a misguided decision to not issue a SP2 for the most popular OS in history, Win7 is so heavily patched that even lacking a single Optional Update can cause a major program, OS function or piece of hardware to not function correctly. The only way to be sure that you have the total, completely patched OS is to accept all Windows Updates (except Bing).

Since we mainly see problems with Windows Updates here, it can distort our view to believe that they are erroring and bricking installs all over the place. But this really only affects about one out of every million Updates so it is likely that most consumers will never experience a problem with Updates. I keep about a hundred installs up for friends and family and have never had Updates themselves cause issues.

Granted, those posting in this thread are savvy enough to know how to deselect Updates they don't need or want, but beware descriptions which don't explain in enough detail what all is fixed or patched by it. Some Updates that are needed are mistakenly queued under Optional, as are drivers Win7 wants as the first driver-complete OS.

It doesn't help assure users after we had TP build 9876 brick hard drives after a Power Up in Sleep switch was affected. I lost two drives to this, one of which was only recently repaired after months of effort. TP can also be buggy enough to affect it's continuous use causing me to reinstall Win7 recently, although I'm back to using TP now for a total of 5 out of 6 months.

So let's deal with these issues in a calm and level-headed manner befitting the stature of these forums, so that when the TP Builders review threads like this they find them useful instead of sensational.

 

[ThrashZone]

Nobody realizes how bad a dual boot can go until bad stuff happens
For that matter a windows update that over rights an existing install I'm no longer a fan of that type of install,

If it's a clean install sure,
But if hardware issues occur as Greg and I have seen first hand it goes badly
Mine wasn't as bad as Greg's because 10 was on an expendable hdd which is why I was using it
Mother board not able to send wake command
How else would I know that

Now I know and now I reject until better Minimal system requirements are disclosed by M$ which they have not done yet.

 

[gregrocker]

For that matter a windows update that over rights an existing install I'm no longer a fan of that type of install,

I must have missed this one. When did that happen?

 

[whs]

Greg, your experience with the bricked harddrives shows again that running a pre-beta version on the iron is not such a good idea. If you run it in VM, those things cannot happen and if the virtual system is bricked, it is easy enough to roll in a backup.

 

[gregrocker]

I really don't like running my main (and only, now) OS on VM. Just a personal preference. It feels second dimensional.

 

[ThrashZone]

For that matter a windows update that over rights an existing install I'm no longer a fan of that type of install,

I must have missed this one. When did that happen?

Windows old folder... but either way win-10 coming through the windows update system is not my preference and hardly clean especially on a ssd.

The question should be Why remove the separate downloadable = Upgrade advisor same as win-7 had ?

Not quite as straight forward as adding all of these other updates well before 10 is even close to stable.

If I had more than dual core I'd lean towards VMware too but I don't want to push my systems harder than the my graphic's programs are already doing

 

[whs]

This is what Ed Bott has to say about the matter:

I've seen a handful of people trying to spin this update process as a sneaky move on Microsoft's part, but I have a hard time seeing this as adware. It is, instead, perfectly targeted advertising, offering a free upgrade to a product currently running on the system where the ad is being displayed.

There are no hidden costs (aside from those incurred by the download itself) and the upgrade isn't going to be installed without your explicit consent. It can't, because there's at least one license agreement (and probably several) you're going to have to click through.

Get Windows 10: Microsoft's hidden roadmap for the biggest software upgrade in history | ZDNet

 

[ThrashZone]

I hate that site but a good article

 

[Brds7t7]

The only purpose of this update is to get you notified about coming possibilities. It's of course totally OK to hide and block an unwanted update, however we will go to conspiracy theories when users start disabling Windows Update because of this.

A very good explanation, although at this point hypothetical can be found here:

An extract from that article: Microsoft hides a Windows 10 Easter Egg in Windows 7/8.1 systems - TechRepublic

If you investigate the Config.XML (Figure E), you'll see that the main content of the file consists of code blocks that are titled in phases. Beginning with None (presumably the dormant phase), you can see the phases play out the initial stages: AnticipationUX, Reservation, Reserved, RTM, and GA. I can imagine that during the AnticipationUX phase, there will be feature teasers very much like what you see during the Windows 8.x installation procedure. During the Reservation phase, you'll be prompted to reserve your copy of Windows 10. During the Reserved phase, you'll be informed that your copy has been reserved and that you'll be in the first group to get Windows 10. Next, you'll be informed when Windows 10 is Released To Manufacturing and when it is Generally Available.

Actually it's not just about prepping your system for windows 10. A couple of the updates have specifically said they are for collecting data and sending back to MS.

One thing I have noticed, since installing one of the updates I experienced hard drive thrashing. Since uninstalling the update that thrashing has stopped. The update including Queryappblock and compatTel files along with a load of other data collecting files and I'm pretty sure it's these that was causing the thrashing.

I'm not happy with installing updates that are negatively affecting the performance of my system.

 

[whs]

I hate that site but a good article

Ed Bott is a very good man. He always publishes very factual and balanced articles.