GWX Control Panel Troubleshooting Guide

Here you'll find solutions or explanations for some commonly reported problems with GWX Control Panel. If you can't find the answer you're looking for, have a look at the GWX Control Panel user guide or the GWX Control Panel Frequently Asked Questions.

MAKE SURE YOU'VE GOT THE LATEST VERSION

New versions of GWX Control Panel often include improvements and fixes based on feedback I've gotten from users. Please be sure you're running the latest version of the program in case the problem you're having has already been addressed. You can head to the download page directly, or use the Check for updates feature in the right-click pop-up menus of both GWX Control Panel's Monitor Mode icon and the title bar of the main program window.

1. I CLICKED THE "PREVENT WINDOWS 10 UPGRADES" BUTTON BUT THE PROGRAM STILL SAYS UPGRADES ARE ALLOWED
-OR-
I CLICKED "DISABLE GET WINDOWS 10 APP" BUT THE PROGRAM STILL SAYS THE APP IS ENABLED

UPDATE (May 5, 2016): In the past two weeks I've received four reports of this happening, even with the latest version of GWX Control Panel. Some new third party tool or Windows Update patch is altering the registry security settings on some peoples' computers in a way that prevents GWX Control Panel from writing the registry settings that protect you from Windows 10.

SYMPTOMS:

1. You can click the "Click to Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades" button, but after a few seconds, the "Are Windows 10 Upgrades allowed?" field still says Yes, and the button text still says "Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades," indicating that your computer settings haven't changed.
2. If you right-click the GWX Control Panel title bar and use the Save diagnostic info option, you'll see messages like this in the "BEGIN NORMAL MODE LOGS" section:
   
   "ERR, code: 5, Failed to prevent Windows 10 upgrades in Windows Update policies."
   "ERR, code: 5,"
    
3. If you open up Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and attempt to create one of the Windows 10-blocking registry values yourself (for example, the DisableOSUpgrade value under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate), you receive an error message that says: "Cannot create value: Error writing to the registry."

CAUSE:

This is happening because some unknown tool or service is changing the default registry security settings on some computers, but I have not yet figured out who the culprit is. The weird thing is I've encountered scripts and tools in the past that did similar things, and the latest version of GWX Control Panel (1.7.4.1 at this writing) even has code explicitly meant to work around these problems, but in the past two weeks something new has been happening on some folks' PCs that GWX Control Panel is not yet able to combat. (Work is underway!)

WORKAROUND:

While I work to figure out who is causing these problems and how GWX Control Panel can detect and fix it, there is a workaround that seems successful for the handful of people who've experienced the problem:

1. Right-click the following link and click "Save link as" or "Save target as" in your browser to download the file. (If you click the link directly it might just open in your browser like a text file.)
   
   Right-click this link and save it to your PC
    
2. In the Windows File Explorer, locate the downloaded DisableWindows10Settings.reg file and double-click it.
3. If Windows asks, "Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to your computer?" click Yes.
4. When a Registry Editor dialog box appears asking, "Are you sure you want to continue?", click Yes.
5. If the operation is successful, you should see a message like this, and GWX Control Panel should work normally again:
   
   
   If the operation fails, you will see a message like this, and you will have to proceed to the following steps:
   
6. Launch Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and browse to the following registry key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE: SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
   
7. Right-click the WindowsUpdate node and click Permissions. Select each of the items listed under Group or user names and verify their respective permissions. The following three entities should be listed here, and they should have the following settings:
   
   Authenticated Users: Allow Read
   SYSTEM: Allow Full Control, Allow Read
   Administrators (xxx\Administrators): Allow Full Control, Allow Read
   
   If all of the entities above are listed there, but their permissions are not set properly, correct this now. NONE of them should have any check marks under Deny, and both SYSTEM and Administrators need to be allowed Full Control. Here's an example of a properly configured system:
   
8. If any of the three entities listed above are missing, you must restore them. To do this, click Add, then type the first word in the group's name under Enter the object names to select, and then click Check Names to look up the full correct group name. Next, click OK.
   
   For example, this is what happened after I typed the word "administrators" and clicked Check Names:
   
9. Once the group is added, make sure it has the appropriate permissions as described in step 7.
10. Finally, repeat steps 7-9 for the following registry key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE: SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\GWX
11. Click OK to quit Registry Editor, and then launch GWX Control Panel. You should have full control over your computer again.

The overwhelming majority of GWX Control Panel users do not experience this problem (and I'm not able to reproduce it here yet, since I don't know what's causing the permissions to change), but I'm planning to address the issue in the next update. Check the downloads page to see if there's a new version available.

2. THE 'DELETE WINDOWS 10 DOWNLOAD FOLDERS' FEATURE DIDN'T DELETE ALL OF THE DOWNLOADED FILES

GWX Control Panel looks for two different potential locations for downloaded Windows 10 files on your system drive. One folder is named $Windows.~BT and the other is $Windows.~WS. They only exist on your computer if Windows has tried one or more methods of downloading the files to your PC. GWX Control Panel always (as far as I know) deletes the $Windows.~BT folder, but I have heard of some cases where it couldn't delete $Windows.~WS. After taking a look at the code, it looks like there's a bug in 1.7.x of the program where it accidentally skips the $Windows.~WS folder if $Windows.~BT is not found.

This bug will be fixed in the next version of the program (I've already updated the code), but in the mean time, you can work around the issue by browsing to the root of your system drive (usually C:\) and creating a new folder called $Windows.~BT. Place a single file in the folder- even a little TXT file will do. Now when you use the Delete Windows 10 Download Folders button in GWX Control Panel, the program should find and remove both directories. Sorry for the confusion!

If this still doesn't work out for you (if you're having a problem unrelated to the bug I mentioned), you can also try this:

1.  Start the Disk Cleanup tool. (This is a program built into Windows. You can find it under All Programs > Accessories > System Tools in your Windows Start menu.)
2. Select your system drive (usually C:) if/when prompted to choose a drive.
3. Click the Clean up system files button in the Disk Cleanup tab.
4. After a minute or two, the Disk Cleanup tab will reappear. Locate and check the Previous Windows installation(s) option, and then click OK.

3. ONE OF THE BUTTONS SAYS "ALLOW WINDOWS 10 UPGRADES" BUT I DON'T WANT ANY WINDOWS 10 UPGRADES!

Don't worry! If the button starts with "Allow" that means upgrades are already being prevented. If you had any Windows 10 upgrade settings, the button would actually say "Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades." The upper "Information" section of the program is your computer's current status. The lower area with the buttons is where you can perform actions described on the buttons.

Look at the Information section for your current status. Use the buttons to perform actions.

4. WHY CAN'T I CLICK ONE OR MORE OF THE BUTTONS?

Some buttons become available or unavailable depending on the current state of the 'Get Windows 10' app or certain files and settings on your computer. See the user guide to learn when they're unavailable.

5. WHY DOES IT SAY THE GET WINDOWS 10 APP IS RUNNING OR ENABLED WHEN I DON'T SEE THE ICON? 

It is possible for the GWX app to be running but not actually displaying its icon. This is a result of various settings on your PC and the program's own internal rules/behaviors. Trust me, though, if GWX Control Panel says the app is running, it is running.

6. WHY DOES IT SAY THAT AUTOMATIC WINDOWS 10 UPGRADES ARE ALLOWED ON MY PC, AND HOW DO I FIX IT?

The "Are Windows 10 Upgrades Allowed" field (before version 1.7 this used to be called "Are OS Upgrades Enabled in Windows Update") is an indication that one or more system settings related to Windows 10 upgrades was detected on your PC. They can be enabled for different reasons (we don't know all of the circumstances or culprits yet), but beginning with version 1.7, you can now see exactly which Windows 10 Upgrade settings GWX Control Panel detected by using the "Save diagnostic info" feature, which is available in the right-click pop-up menus of both the Monitor Mode icon and and main program window's title bar. Save diagnostic info creates a text file on your desktop and gives you a chance to open it in your default text editor to see what it says. For the Are Windows 10 Upgrades Allowed field, you want to look for the section of the report under UpgradeFlags. You'll see something like this:

In the above example, GWX Control Panel discovered that the DisableOSUpgrade registry setting was missing. You might see different values there, depending on the state of your PC.

Known culprits:
There are a bunch of different settings that can potentially trigger this field to indicate Yes, and they're both used and maintained by a variety of operating system components. There are a few known causes for getting this indication.

• The DisableOSUpgrade registry value doesn't exist in a fresh Windows install; you have to add it yourself (GWX Control Panel can do this for you). So its absence will trigger the alert.
• The notorious KB3035583 Windows Update patch installs a number of programs that are scheduled to run in the background on a schedule prescribed by Microsoft. One or two of these scheduled tasks in some of the more recent versions of this update have been confirmed to reset some of the settings that can trigger Are Windows 10 Upgrades Allowed to register Yes, and they will change this setting every time they run. (This is why I added the Delete Windows 10 Programs feature; to blow these tasks away so they stop changing my settings.)
• Microsoft occasionally pushes updates to Windows Update itself. Sometimes these updates wipe out some of your existing Windows Update settings (many of which are directly related to Windows 10 upgrades), and you need to reset them with GWX Control Panel.

How to fix it:
To put your system back to "No" state, click the Prevent Automatic Windows 10 Upgrades button. Consider adjusting your Windows Update settings and/or using the Delete Windows 10 Programs feature of GWX Control Panel if you'd like to stop Windows from altering these settings while you're not looking.

7. I RECENTLY USED GWX CONTROL PANEL TO PREVENT AUTOMATIC WINDOWS 10 UPGRADES BUT NOW IT'S SAYING THEY'RE ENABLED AGAIN. WHAT HAPPENED?

Please see the answer to the previous question. Chances are the "Delete Windows 10 Programs" feature will stop this behavior.

8. I USED GWX CONTROL PANEL ONCE TO REMOVE MICROSOFT'S 'GET WINDOWS 10' ICON FROM MY TASKBAR BUT NOW IT'S BACK AGAIN- WHAT HAPPENED?

Microsoft's 'Get Windows 10' icon app is part of the infamous KB3035583 Windows Update patch. Since the update first started rolling out in July 2015, Microsoft has released several updated versions of it, without changing the update name. First off, here are some things to keep in mind about KB3035583:

• If your Windows Update preferences are set to "install updates automatically," KB3035583 will install every version that Microsoft releases, whether you already have a previous version of it or not. (Note, for the time being you can prevent this by making sure to uncheck the Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates option in your Windows Update settings. Windows will still offer the update for download, but it won't automatically install it. This behavior might change in the future.)
• If you have Windows Update set to "check for updates but let me choose" or "download updates but let me choose" and you use Windows Update's "hide" feature to prevent KB3035583 from showing up in your control panel, that's only good for that particular version of the KB3035583 patch. The next time Microsoft pushes a new version of it, the new version of the patch will appear once it is available and need to be re-hidden if you no longer wish to see it.
• If you already have an existing version of KB3035583 installed and Microsoft pushes an updated version to your PC, if you then subsequently uninstall KB3035583 from your computer, this will no longer actually remove the files from your PC! Uninstalling the patch once it's been upgraded will just roll you back to the previously installed version. (This is why I added the Delete Windows 10 Programs feature to GWX Control Panel. It really deletes the KB3035583 files.)

So, this is a really nasty update, and if you are not vigilant about which updates you install or how you install them, it will keep coming back, eventually. The point of GWX Control Panel is not to prevent Microsoft from installing software that you let it install via your Windows Update settings- it's to let you know when Microsoft installs things or changes settings that leave you vulnerable to Windows 10 and let you fix it.

So, if you want to keep installing Windows updates (and any Windows computer that connects to the Internet should), leave your updates enabled and also enable GWX Control Panel's Monitor Mode feature. This will alert you when and if Microsoft changes anything behind your back so you can put things right again.

9. I USED GWX CONTROL PANEL BUT I'M STILL SEEING ADS FOR WINDOWS 10 IN MY WEB BROWSER

Some Microsoft sites (most notably MSN.com) have been displaying some very annoying advertisements for Windows 10 inside desktop web browsers for some time. I've seen the ads take two forms: A banner at the top of the browser window, and an even more annoying blue pop-over ad that you have to dismiss in order to see the web page underneath. Both ads say "Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 10."

As of version 1.7, GWX Control Panel does not yet have a way to prevent this, since the program focuses on system-wide Windows settings, not content delivered to your web browser. I am currently investigating whether there's a safe, non-invasive way to stop these ads, but I don't know yet whether it will be possible to fix with GWX Control Panel. For now, I recommend just avoiding MSN or any other Microsoft site that delivers the ads. (Change your browser start page if you're currently defaulting to MSN.)

Here are both types of ads I've seen at MSN:

GWX Control Panel is not yet able to inhibit the "Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 10" banner ads in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc. but this ability might appear in a future release.

This is another example of the annoying MSN "Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 10" ads that GWX Control Panel does not (yet) fix. Investigation on how to stop this behavior is ongoing.

On a related note, I am still looking for information on a new kind of Windows 10 notification that Microsoft appears to be pushing out. If you have ever experienced the kind of Windows 10 desktop pop-up shown in the following picture, would you please let me know if the "Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades" feature of GWX Control Panel fixes that problem? I have never seen that notification on one of my own systems, so I am unable to test it.

Have you seen these pop-ups? Please let me know if the "Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades" feature fixes it!

10. I ENABLED MONITOR MODE BUT IT DOESN'T START AUTOMATICALLY WHEN I LOG IN TO WINDOWS

This is less likely to happen with version 1.7.0.2 of GWX Control Panel than with previous versions, but it's still worth documenting. Version 1.6 of GWX Control Panel enabled Monitor Mode on a per-user basis. In other words, you had to enable it for each user account on a given PC. This turned out to be a problem, because there are situations where users with Standard or Child user accounts actually run the program with the account permissions of an administrator user on that computer, meaning that any user-specific changes the program made actually affected the administrator account, not the true current user account.

The most likely scenario for seeing this problem (with version 1.6) was this:

1. User with a Standard or Child user account installs GWX Control Panel using the GwxControlPanelSetup installer.
2. In order to run, the installer needs administrator permissions, so it prompts the user for the password to a local administrator account. Once the password is entered, the installer runs under that administrator user's account profile.
3. The installer launches GWX Control Panel once setup is complete. This instance of GWX Control Panel is still running as the Administrator user, since the installer that launched it had administrator permissions.
4. User enables Monitor Mode in this elevated instance of GWX Control Panel. This does start the Monitor Mode icon for the current windows login, but the registry value that loads Monitor Mode on Windows restart is actually set in the administrator user's account profile.
5. After restarting Windows, the Standard/Child user who enabled Monitor Mode doesn't see the Monitor Mode icon.

Beginning with version 1.7, the Enable Monitor Mode button in the main program window enables Monitor Mode for all users on the PC, which avoids the confusing issue we had with version 1.6. Unfortunately, this can result in another confusing situation for people upgrading from version 1.6 to 1.7...

11. I SEE THE MONITOR MODE ICON IN MY NOTIFICATION AREA, BUT GWX CONTROL PANEL IS SHOWING ME THE "ENABLE MONITOR MODE" BUTTON INSTEAD OF "DISABLE MONITOR MODE"

Because of the confusing behavior described in the previous answer, the Monitor Mode button in the main GWX Control Panel setting changes its state based on whether Monitor Mode is enabled for all users, rather than checking its per-user status. Beginning with GWX Control Panel 1.7, the GWX Control Panel Monitor Mode status field indicates how Monitor Mode is currently configured:

In the above example, Monitor Mode is still configured for the user account named AnyPoint, and is not configured for "all users," so the Enable Monitor Mode button is in its correct state. And here's what happens after I click Enable Monitor Mode:

The button status changed to reflect that Monitor Mode is now enabled for all users.

Notice that GWX Control Panel Monitor Mode status now shows that it's enabled both system-wide and for the user named AnyPoint. This is actually harmless (only one Monitor Mode instance runs per user), but you can clean it up by using the Enable/disable Monitor Mode for current user option in the right-click pop-up menu of the program's title bar.

Remember: There are situations where an instance of GWX Control Panel launched by a Standard/Child user actually runs under the profile of an administrator account. So just like with version 1.6, the Enable/disable Monitor Mode for current user option in the system menu might affect the administrator account, not the actual current user. This is why I display the name of the user Monitor Mode is enabled under, because it will list the administrator's name if the program is running with elevated permissions.

12. I DOWNLOADED THE LATEST VERSION OF GWX CONTROL PANEL BUT THE ABOUT BOX AND CHECK UPDATES SCREENS OF MONITOR MODE ARE TELLING ME I HAVE AN OLDER VERSION

The program versions displayed in the About GWX Control Panel and Check for updates dialog boxes are pulled from the currently-running process (they're not hard-coded strings built into the dialog boxes). If you see an older version listed in those screens, it means you're actually running an older version of the program.

This can easily happen if you use the stand-alone version of GWX Control Panel, because the default behavior of most browsers is to rename more recent copies of a file if a pre-existing file with the same name as what you're trying to download already exists:

GWX Control Panel was downloaded three times, resulting in three uniquely-named files.

The Enable Monitor Mode feature of GWX Control Panel tells Windows to use the path and filename of the currently running copy of GWX Control Panel when you clicked the button. If you enabled GWX Control Panel while using a different folder or filename from the most recent copy you downloaded, your other, older copy is going to be the one that loads on Windows startup.

The GWX Control Panel installer solves this issue by letting you select a single install location for the program and replacing older copies with the latest version, preventing multiple copies from cluttering up your downloads folder.

If you still prefer to stick with the stand-alone version, just click Disable Monitor Mode, then click Enable Monitor Mode to re-enable it using the current path/filenname.

Note
If you upgraded from version 1.6, you might also want to use the Enable/disable Monitor Mode for current user feature to make sure you don't have two startup entries for Monitor Mode (this will ensure that only the latest version gets launched at startup).

13. WHEN I USE THE 'DISPLAY THE USER GUIDE' FEATURE MY BROWSER BOOKMARKS AND SETTINGS ARE DIFFERENT

If a Standard or User child account does something that requires administrator permissions to perform (basically any time you have to enter a password to do anything in GWX Control Panel, including installing/uninstalling), GWX Control Panel actually runs under the user profile of the administrator account whose password you entered. Consider these two scenarios:

1. Standard user A has to enter administrator user B's password in order to install GWX Control Panel. When the final setup page launches GWX Control Panel, it is still running with administrator permissions, and any changes made for that one instance of the program happen under the administrator's user profile. (Subsequent instances launched under user A's account will run under user A's profile until they attempt to do something that requires administrator permissions.)
2. Standard user A uses a GWX Control Panel feature that affects system settings, resulting in Windows prompting for an administrator password. Any subsequent actions the user performs in that same elevated instance of the program, including Display the User Guide, happen under the administrator user B's profile.

So, what's happening here is you're actually seeing the administrator user's browser settings. Just quit GWX Control Panel and launch it again to run with your own user account permissions.

14. WINDOWS ASKS ME TO ENTER A PASSWORD IN ORDER TO LAUNCH GWX CONTROL PANEL EVERY TIME I LOG IN TO WINDOWS

Any time Windows asks you to enter a password in order to use GWX Control Panel, it means you are using a Standard or Child account with limited Windows permissions. While this is expected if you launched GWX Control Panel manually and clicked one of the features that changes system settings, this is never supposed to happen at Windows startup, because Monitor Mode doesn't require administrator rights.

This behavior is much less likely to happen if you use the GWX Control Panel installer rather than the stand-alone version, but here are some potential causes for this behavior if it happens to you:

• GWX_control_panel.exe is located in a protected folder location. Standard and Child user accounts of Windows don't have access to all locations of a computer's storage drives. If another user downloaded GWX Control Panel into a protected or private location and enabled Monitor Mode, users who don't have the same access to the computer can be prompted to enter the password of an account that does.
• Someone changed the properties of GWX Control Panel to require administrator access. There are a lot of Windows utilities that don't work properly unless you explicitly launch them with administrator permissions. GWX Control Panel is not one of them. If you change GWX Control Panel's properties to elevate it to administrator, this will force Standard and Child user accounts to enter an administrator password in order to run it, even though Monitor Mode never does anything that requires admin rights.

  

  You never need to check this box or use the "Run as Administrator" Explorer shortcut menu option with GWX Control Panel.

In both of these cases, the best way to deal with it is to use the GWX Control Panel installer. It will put the files in a place all users have access to and won't apply unnecessary elevation requirements to its executables or shortcuts. You will also want to be sure to disable/re-enable Monitor Mode after installing to make sure Windows loads the correct version of the program from the right location.

15. I'M UNABLE TO INSTALL/UPGRADE/UNINSTALL GWX CONTROL PANEL DUE TO AN "ERROR OPENING FILE FOR WRITING" DIALOG

This happens if an already-installed copy of GWX Control Panel is still running while the setup program is attempting to install the latest version (or remove an existing one). Now, the setup program attempts to terminate any running instances of GWX Control Panel before proceeding, but sometimes this error still occurs:

The two most likely reasons for this error are:

1. More than one user account is currently in the logged-in state on your computer, and at least one of those other accounts is running an instance of GWX Control Panel (either the main program window or the Monitor Mode icon).
2. You are running the installer from a Standard or Child account, and as a result the installer (which runs under a separate administrator account's credentials), can't "see" processes running in your Standard/Child account's process space.

How to fix it:

1. Only attempt to install, upgrade, or uninstall GWX Control Panel while logged in to an administrator account. (Tip: If you have to enter a password when launching the installer, you are not running from an administrator account.)
2. Log out any other user accounts on the computer, so that no instances of GWX Control Panel are running outside of your current administrator account's process space. (Or just reboot your computer and only log in to your primary administrator account.)
3. Launch the GWX Control Panel setup program (or uninstaller) and proceed.
    

16. THE GWX CONTROL PANEL WINDOW IS POSITIONED SO HIGH ON MY DESKTOP THAT I CAN'T GRAB THE TITLE BAR TO MOVE THE WINDOW

This is actually a really neat little bug, but I'll spare you the details and just say I've fixed the problem. There are two easy ways to re-position the GWX Control Panel window:

• If you have Monitor Mode enabled, right-click the Monitor Mode "10" icon in your notification area and then click Reset Control Panel Window Position on the pop-up menu.
• If you don't want to (or aren't able to) use Monitor Mode, you can fix the problem by either uninstalling and then re-installing GWX Control Panel (assuming you used the installer versus running the program stand-alone) or by downloading and installing the most recent version of the GWX Control Panel installer. Beginning with 1.6.0.1, the installer resets the window position before installing/upgrading the program.

17. I USED GWX CONTROL PANEL AND NOW I GET HANGS OR ERRORS WHEN I TRY TO CHECK FOR WINDOWS UPDATES

GWX Control Panel doesn't cause Windows Update errors or failures, and it doesn't block or otherwise disable Windows Update unless you explicitly tell it to by using Change Windows Update Settings feature to select the Never check for updates option. If you encounter an error when trying to use the Check for updates feature of Windows Update, GWX Control Panel is not the root cause. Here are some things you can do to troubleshoot your problem:

Important note for Windows 7 users: There are known issues with the speed of "Check for Updates" in Windows 7. Before you start with this checklist, make sure you have the latest patches from Microsoft that fix known slowdown issues. I have written a separate article about this which lists the exact patches you need to download and install. This does not affect Windows 8.

1. Wait it out. If your issue is that checking for updates is taking an unusually long time, understand that checking for updates is a queued operation. In other words, when you click "Check for updates" Microsoft puts your request in a queue behind hundreds or possibly thousands of other computers waiting to communicate with your nearest Windows Update servers. Busier times of day usually result in longer wait times. Also remember that if you used the "Clear Windows Update Cache" feature of GWX Control Panel your first update check will take longer than usual.
2. Restart Windows. Seriously, if you haven't rebooted your computer since you first experienced your issue, please do it at least once.
3. Try again later. The number one cause of errors when checking for new Windows updates is server problems, and Microsoft's update servers are busier than ever now that they're also used to distribute Windows 10. Note that most of these failures occur on Monday (when people power on their work computers) and Tuesday (when Microsoft pushes out most updates).
4. Check your internet connection. Windows Update communicates with Microsoft's update servers, and it obviously won't work if your Wi-Fi connection is down or your router's not working, or your DNS cache is out of date. Unfortunately, the errors you get when this is the problem are incredibly misleading. 
5. Make sure the Windows Update and Software Protection services are running. Both of these services are supposed to start automatically with Windows, but they are "Delayed Start" services that load after all the other services start. Every once in a while one or both of them doesn't bother starting at all, and Windows Update won't work without them. Open up your Services control panel (services.msc) and locate Software Protection and Windows Update, then make sure they're both enabled as "Automatic (Delayed Start)" and that they're both running.
   
    
   While not as commonly a problem, you should also check that both Background Intelligent Transfer Service and the Cryptographic Services are enabled and running. Windows Update can't fully function without them.
    
6. Check your Windows update log for errors. Locate the Windows Update log file (usually C:\Windows\WindowsUpdate.log). It is a normal text file you can open in Notepad. Any recent activity and error messages will be down at the bottom of the file. This will give you some keywords to search for when tracking down a fix.
7. Try some of Microsoft's Windows Update troubleshooters. The first one I'd try would be the one located at the bottom of this Knowledge Base article. (Look for the "automatic troubleshooter" link.) If that doesn't seem to work for you, proceed to this other troubleshooter.
8. Try a third-party repair tool. While I haven't used this tool personally, I have heard positive reviews from some folks who were able to able to resolve Windows Update issues with Tweaking.com's Windows Repair utility.

Also:
If you do a Check for updates and Windows Update reports "No updates available" that really means that no updates are available (unless you've explicitly hidden some with the Hide update feature, in which case you can reveal them with Restore hidden updates).

While GWX Control Panel does not break or cause errors in Windows Update, it obviously does have some interaction with the Windows Update service. Here's where you can learn more about those aspects of the program:

• The Prevent/Allow Automatic Windows 10 Upgrades feature affects some Windows Update settings directly related to the Windows 10 upgrade process, and these settings are completely reversible. See the user guide.
• The Change Windows Update Settings feature presents a subset of the Windows Update settings for your computer. Any changes you make here will be reflected in your Windows Update control panel, and can be undone/changed back in either Windows Update or GWX Control Panel. See the user guide.
• The Clear Windows Update Cache feature deletes cached Windows update data and results in some one-time effects which are documented both inside GWX Control Panel (before you attempt to perform the operation) and at the GWX Control Panel announcement page. Among other things, the first time you check for updates after using it will take significantly longer than usual, but any actual errors you encounter are more likely due to server issues- so just try again later.

18. GWX CONTROL PANEL SUCCESSFULLY BLOCKED WINDOWS 10, BUT NOW WINDOWS UPDATE SAYS I'VE GOT A TON OF UPDATES READY FOR DOWNLOAD!

Sometimes when Microsoft installs Windows 10 "nagware" on your computer it has a side-effect of blocking the regular Windows Update patches that your current operating system is supposed to receive. If you are one of the people experiencing this behavior, once GWX Control Panel blocks Windows 10 and restores your normal Windows Update behavior, you may indeed find dozens (even hundreds) of Windows Update patches waiting to install on your computer the next time you open your Windows Update control panel. While this is to be expected in some cases (for unknown reasons, not all users affected by the Windows 10 annoyances experience this Windows Update hijacking behavior), Windows Update doesn't always behave gracefully when it has a bunch of downloads to deliver to you all at once. Here are some tips to help you get back to normal:

• Before allowing Windows to install your available updates, I advise checking your Windows Update settings (you can do this from within GWX Control Panel or by clicking Change settings from Microsoft's Windows Update control panel) and making sure to uncheck the option labeled, "Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates." This prevents Windows from automatically selecting non-essential patches such as KB3035583 for installation, and cut down on the number of updates you'll initially have to install.
• Some Windows Update patches conflict with one another in the sense that they make their own updates to the same operating system files on your PC. Windows is smart enough to apply the right changes when you install individual updates one-at-a-time, but if you attempt to install two or more conflicting updates together in a batch of other update patches, it is quite common for one of the conflicting patches to fail- which usually has the unfortunate effect of rolling back the entire batch of attempted updates. If you find that Windows keeps trying (and failing) to install the same updates, click the "important updates are available" link from the main Windows Update page, and then uncheck all automatically-selected updates except for one single update. Click OK to return to the main Windows Update page, and then click Install updates. Repeat this process, restarting Windows when prompted to do so. This may take a while, but it works.
• People frequently ask me if GWX Control Panel will prevent any Windows 10-related updates from downloading to your PC. The current version doesn't do that (you can read more about why this is- and why it doesn't really matter- in the first topic at the GWX Control Panel FAQ), but don't worry! If you've already used the "Disable/Prevent Get Windows 10 App" and "Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades" features of GWX Control Panel, you are already protected from Windows 10, regardless of what Windows Update patches you install on your PC.
• If you continue to experience problematic Windows Update behavior, have a look at topic 17 above, on this same page. I've never seen a Windows Update problem those steps couldn't fix.

19. I CAN SEE THE MONITOR MODE ICON BUT MY 'SAVE DIAGNOSTIC INFO' REPORT SAYS IT ISN'T RUNNING

If you enabled Monitor Mode and you can see that it's running, you might notice some confusing output in the Save Diagnostic Info logs:

Monitor Mode Flags=0x00000006
 - Monitor Mode is enabled for all users in registry (HKLM Run GwxControlPanelMonitor).
 - Monitor Mode is currently running.
 - Monitor Mode is not currently running (try Restart Monitor Mode from the system menu).

This is just a minor bug in the 1.7.1.0 code that parses the flag values. If the Flags value is 0x00000003 or 0x00000006, the "Monitor Mode is not currently running" message is incorrect. It will be fixed in the next version.

20. I AM USING AN ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT BUT MY 'SAVE DIAGNOSTIC INFO' REPORT SAYS I'M NOT AN ADMINISTRATOR

In version 1.7, the "User is Administrator" field in the Save Diagnostic Info reports is really talking about the permissions of the currently running process, not the actual logged-in user account. I agree this is confusing, and I will fix the wording in a future version. Here are some cases when this field will say "User is Administrator=Yes":

• Using "Run as Administrator" when launching GWX Control Panel (not necessary or recommended).
• When GWX Control Panel is launched by the installer.
• When GWX Control Panel's Monitor Mode is launched by an instance of GWX Control Panel that has administrator rights. (When it loads at Windows startup Monitor Mode never requests admin rights.)
• User modified the shortcut or EXE properties so that the program always runs as administrator (again, not recommended or required).
• User selected a program feature that requires administrator rights. (The program self-elevates to Administrator in that case and remains that way until closed.)

21. I USED GWX CONTROL PANEL AND NOW MY (INSERT APPLICATION OR FEATURE HERE) DOESN'T WORK!

Thousands of people download and use GWX Control Panel every day, and since the program's release I haven't learned of a single instance where the program was responsible for any problem that's not already described on this page or the user guide. That said, there's a first time for everything, and here's how to determine whether GWX Control Panel was the true culprit:

1. Open GWX Control Panel and re-enable any feature that you had previously disabled within the program. (And restart Windows if the program prompts you to do so.) This will undo any changes GWX Control Panel made, restoring them to their state before you ran the program.
   
   Note
   The Clear Windows Update Cache, Delete Windows 10 Programs, and Delete Windows 10 Download Folders features are the only things that can't be reversed, since they delete files. Although they are not reversible, neither of them are harmful, and I haven't heard reports of any unexpected side-effects from using them. (There are indeed some known one-time side-effects of clearing your update cache, and those are both detailed in the user guide and described inside the program before you proceed with the operation.)
    
2. If you suspect Monitor Mode is causing problems, click Disable Monitor Mode in the main GWX Control Panel window to exit the Monitor Mode process and prevent it from starting automatically.
3. Finally, if you want to completely rule out GWX Control Panel as a root cause, and you used the GWX Control Panel setup program to install the software (versus downloading the program stand-alone), you can uninstall it from your Programs and Features control panel in Windows. The uninstaller should stop any open instances and remove any registry values created by the installer and the application.

If you reverse GWX Control Panel's changes and uninstall the application and you still have the issue, it's very likely that GWX Control Panel wasn't the actual cause of the problem. If, however, you do these things (reverse changes and uninstall) and your problem goes away then I definitely want to hear about it so I can research the matter further. You can leave comments here or contact me through the Ultimate Outsider Facebook page.

The GWX Control Panel FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

This post answers a number of questions I've received about GWX Control Panel, the program that helps protect Windows 7 and Windows 8 users from unwanted Windows 10-related notifications and upgrades.

 If you can't find the answer you're looking for here, you might find it at one of these other posts:

• The GWX Control Panel announcement post. This is essentially the GWX Control Panel user guide. You'll find the most detailed documentation there, as well as download links and release details.
• GWX Control Panel Troubleshooting Guide. Go here if GWX Control Panel is not working as expected, or if you believe it is causing problems with other programs or your computer.

1. WILL GWX CONTROL PANEL BLOCK WINDOWS UPDATE FROM INSTALLING SPECIFIC PATCHES LIKE KB2952664, KB2976978, KB3035583, KB3123862, ETC?

While I describe all the things GWX Control Panel does and doesn't do in the "What it does and how it works" section of the user guide, I still get questions like this every couple of days, so I'll go into more detail here. It is a complex issue, and I will address it in three parts:

THE PAST
If I had to sum up GWX Control Panel with a one-line mission statement, it would be, "Let users fix Windows 10-related annoyances with just a couple of clicks." By "annoyances" I mean visible or tangible problems that Microsoft's Windows 10 campaign causes users of Windows 7 and Windows 8. The first few features I implemented in GWX Control Panel fit perfectly into that theme:

• Dismiss and prevent the "Get Windows 10" icon.
• Block Windows 10 upgrades.
• Restore normal Windows Update control panel behavior if it's been hijacked by Windows 10.
• Find and delete the hidden Windows 10 download folders to free up disk space.

I was able to accomplish all of those things without blocking or uninstalling any Windows Update patches. On my own personal computers, I always install all Windows Update patches- and with GWX Control Panel installed and enabled, I never experience any of the above symptoms. As far as I was concerned, investing development time into blocking individual Windows Update patches didn't make sense to me, because I was able to stop all of Microsoft's undesirable behaviors without hiding or uninstalling a single Windows Update patch.

And here's the reason I didn't see what value such a feature would deliver: Other than KB3035583 (which I discuss in the next section) and the actual Windows 10 Upgrade itself, the majority of alleged Windows 10-related Windows Update patches that people talk about on message boards don't appear to cause any visible Windows 10-related behavior that isn't already addressed by GWX Control Panel. I've gotten so many emails asking why I'm not doing something to block KB2952664, KB2976978, KB3123862, etc, but the problem is: Those updates don't appear to do anything bad if you're already using GWX Control Panel to disable Windows 10 upgrades. (Note: If you can provide concrete evidence otherwise, please send it my way! I analyze every new supposed Win 10-related patch with my own arsenal of debugging and analysis tools, and I just haven't found them to do anything that my program doesn't already stop.)

THE PRESENT
First, let me clarify a couple of things: I do explicitly block the "Upgrade to Windows 10" patch that can appear in Windows Update depending on your computer's settings. That is actually a special update that is controlled and delivered in a different manner from your typical "KB" updates. Also, while I don't prevent the notorious KB3035583 patch from installing on your computer, my Monitor Mode will notify you if the patch gets installed and my Delete Windows 10 Programs feature will neutralize the update better than actually uninstalling the update would.

So let me be very clear: As of version 1.7.2.0, with the exception of the actual "Upgrade to Windows 10" patch, GWX Control Panel does not prevent specific Windows Update patches from installing, because they don't appear to cause any Windows 10 annoyances that GWX Control Panel can't fix. You control which updates to install via the Windows Update control panel, and I honor your preferences.

THE FUTURE
All of the above said, since people do still contact me about this issue quite often, I am investigating possible ways to safely and elegantly prevent known Win 10-related updates from installing, even if blocking them doesn't really seem to offer any benefits to-date as long as you're already using GWX Control Panel. While I personally haven't found it necessary to police which updates get installed on my PCs, there's always the possibility that Microsoft could surprise us with some new nasty update some day, and I'd like to be ready for it. So keep an eye out for news on this front... I don't have an E.T.A. for that though. (Update: August 1, 2016... I reached about 95% complete on an update manager for GWX Control Panel but wasn't able to complete it before the July 29 deadline due to work obligations. The code I developed will likely make its way into a future product, and may even make it into a future version of GWX Control Panel if Microsoft ever brings back the free Windows 10 campaign.)

2. DO I NEED GWX CONTROL PANEL NOW THAT MICROSOFT ENDED THE "GET WINDOWS 10" UPGRADE CAMPAIGN ON JULY 29th?

Honestly, it's just too early to say. Right now tens (hundreds?) of millions of Windows 7/8.1 computers still have Microsoft's "Get Windows 10" app installed, even if it's not currently bugging them to upgrade. I've seen a couple people mention that Microsoft might re-ignite the campaign at some point, in which case you'll probably want to make sure you have some way to protect yourself from unwanted upgrades. It's also possible that Microsoft might alter their methods so that the settings and procedures GWX Control Panel uses to protect users from Windows 10 are no longer effective. So anyway, we just don't know- but we're probably safe for at least a few months.

I have written step-by-step instructions for removing/uninstalling GWX Control Panel for anyone who's not used to uninstalling Windows software. (Of course, many GWX Control Panel users used the stand-alone version of the program which doesn't require true "uninstallation" at all. Just disable Monitor Mode if it's running and delete the file.)

3. CAN I REALLY PERMANENTLY DISABLE ANY WINDOWS 10 FEATURES WITH GWX CONTROL PANEL?

At the time I'm writing this, the "Disable" features of GWX Control Panel really do what they're intended to do; they prevent unwanted OS upgrades and notifications. This works after system restarts and most Windows Updates with no further intervention on your part. GWX Control Panel doesn't break or uninstall any Windows features; it just gives you control over when things happen.

But Windows is a moving target. If Microsoft pushes another update that changes the Get Windows 10 or Windows Update behavior, or locks its upgrade settings down even further than they are already, the icon and the notifications and other annoyances might come back. If that ever happens, I will do my best to combat it and publish updates at my downloads page.

But this is important to keep in mind: As long as you have Windows Update enabled, Microsoft has the ability to install new software and change your settings. GWX Control Panel honors your Windows Update settings: If you have Windows Update set to "automatically install updates," GWX Control Panel can't prevent new Windows 10-related change from being installed on your computer. What it can and does do is to notify you whenever new Windows 10 files or settings are found on your PC and gives you the ability to easily fix things.

We have seen at least one case where a Windows Update patch can re-enable some settings that GWX Control Panel disables. (Specifically, it appears to be a recent overhaul to the Windows 7 and Windows 8 versions of Windows Update, which also resets all Windows Update settings, including those related to Windows 10 upgrades.) I've also seen and heard of several cases where a Windows 10-related setting will just seem to spontaneously change status while you're working on your computer. This is likely due to Windows 10-related processes launched by the Windows Task Scheduler. They get onto your computer via Windows Update, but don't necessarily run until some time after you apply your updates.

Be vigilant and run GWX Control Panel after new updates are installed to make sure the OS hasn't re-enabled unwanted features. (Or use the new Monitor Mode introduced with version 1.6 to be notified immediately if any Windows 10 settings revert to enabled state unexpectedly.)

4. I HAVE USED GWX CONTROL PANEL IN THE PAST BUT NOW I'M READY TO UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 10. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?

You have a few different options depending on how you've used GWX Control Panel and how you'd like to perform your upgrade.

If you've only used GWX Control Panel to Disable the 'Get Windows 10' app and Prevent Automatic Windows 10 Upgrades:
 
Both of these features are easily reversible. Just click Enable 'Get Windows 10' app to bring the icon back and click Allow Windows 10 Upgrades to enable Windows 10 services in Windows Update. (You might also want to click Enable Non-critical Windows 10 Settings if that is available.) Now you can click the Get Windows 10 app to begin the upgrade process. Alternatively, if you do a fresh Check for updates in Windows Update after re-enabling these features, you might find the Upgrade to Windows 10 patch available as an installable option (not everyone sees this option; I don't know why).

If you have already used the Delete Windows 10 Download Folders or Delete Windows 10 Programs features:
 
Since these features delete files, you need to take an extra step or two to upgrade to Windows 10. First, make sure to click Allow Windows 10 Upgrades in GWX Control Panel to enable Windows 10 services in Windows Update. After that you have two options:

1. Use Microsoft's Windows 10 Media Creation Tool to download and install Windows 10. (Please see that linked page for instructions.)
   -or-
2. Open the Programs and Features control panel and click View installed updates. In the search box in the upper-right of the window, enter: kb3035583 It might take Windows a few seconds to perform the search. Eventually you should see an entry labeled "Update for Microsoft Windows (KB3035583)". Select this entry and then click Uninstall. (See screenshot below.)
   
   After Windows uninstalls the update, open up your Windows Update control panel and click Check for updates. Wait for Windows Update to check for new updates. This can take a while depending on your computer and how busy Microsoft's update servers are. Once the search is complete, Windows should return with a message like "Install updates for your computer," and will probably also say at least 1 important update is available. Click the "important update available" link to confirm KB3035583 is one of the available updates. (If you don't see KB3035583 listed, you might have to go back to the main Windows Update screen and click Restore hidden updates to un-hide KB3035583. Once you're able to see and select that update, click OK or Install updates, depending on which screen you're on. Once the update is complete, if you don't see Microsoft's Get Windows 10 icon right away, try restarting Windows. If it still doesn't appear make sure you don't have it disabled in GWX Control Panel. Once you can see the icon you can follow the instructions in the first part of this answer.

5. WHY DOES WINDOWS ASK ME IF I WANT TO ALLOW GWX CONTROL PANEL TO MAKE CHANGES TO MY COMPUTER?

When you attempt to perform an action in GWX Control Panel that changes Windows settings, you might see a dialog box that says, “Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer?” This is a function of the User Account Control feature of Windows. GWX Control Panel requires so-called “Administrator privileges” in order to perform some of its tasks, so if you see this dialog box, you must click Yes in order to continue loading the program. You will only be prompted to do this once per GWX Control Panel session.

If Windows doesn't ask this question, it probably means the User Account Control feature is disabled.

6. WILL GWX CONTROL PANEL PREVENT MICROSOFT FROM UPGRADING MY COMPUTER TO WINDOWS 10?

Yes, it appears to- if you use it early enough! (See the next couple of questions for more info.)

First off, according to a Microsoft employee I know and trust, Microsoft will not (yet) intentionally upgrade your Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer to Windows 10 without your consent. (The purpose of the Get Windows 10 app is to annoy you into giving your consent!) You give your consent by clicking the Reserve your free upgrade button in the Get Windows 10 app, which you will only see if you click the notification icon or one of its notification pop-ups. You only have to click this once to get the ball rolling, and there is no "Are you sure?" confirmation.

By clicking this button, you give your consent to install Windows 10.

Even though it's possible to cancel your Windows 10 upgrade reservation in the Get Windows 10 app, doing so appears to put your computer in a state where it can actually download Windows 10 as a Windows Update. (I tested reserving and canceling on one of my Windows 7 computers, and afterward my Windows Update control panel always defaulted to a "Upgrade to Windows 10" screen and I had to click Show all available updates and then deselect Upgrade to Windows 10 Pro in order to install regular Windows updates.) So if you really don't want Windows 10 yet, it's best not to click that "Reserve" button to begin with!

Anyway, I've done several months of testing on eight computers running Windows 7 and Windows 8, and the full Windows 10 installer has not downloaded on any computers where I had used the "Disable Operating System Upgrades in Windows Update" feature of the program.

As an update, in early October Microsoft issued a patch to the Windows Update system which reset some settings GWX Control Panel looks for, related to OS upgrades. Running the latest version of GWX Control Panel on my test systems returned them all to "disabled" status. To date I still haven't seen the 'Get Windows 10' icon re-appear on any of my computers where I disabled it with GWX Control Panel, only the "OS Upgrades" settings.

7. WILL GWX CONTROL PANEL PREVENT MICROSOFT FROM PUSHING THE WINDOWS 10 INSTALLER ONTO MY PC?

Yes, it appears to- again, if you use it early enough. (See next question for details.)

Beginning with version 1.3, the Disable Operating System Upgrades in Windows Update feature of GWX Control Panel attempts to block the secret download of the Windows 10 installer onto your PC. If the folder already exists, GWX Control Panel won't delete it- but if you apply the "disable operating system upgrades" feature and restart your computer, Windows shouldn't download any more of the installer until you re-enable upgrades and restart again.

There are two reasons I have to say that GWX Control Panel appears to work here: First, Microsoft has their own formulas for determining who gets the download files and when, so it's not something that's easy to test. I basically just have to leave my test computers running and wait. Second, in light of recent rumors that Microsoft is pushing the secret download to PCs, whether users have requested an upgrade or not, I don't know whether Microsoft is doing something new to force the downloads that GWX Control Panel doesn't know about yet.

All I can say is that on the eight or so computers where I have run GWX Control Panel, the only one that has downloaded the installer was one where I had explicitly requested the upgrade. (And this was before I had implemented the "disable operating system upgrades" feature.) I am still watching to see if things change.

8. WINDOWS IS ONLY GIVING ME THE OPTIONS OF RESCHEDULING OR IMMEDIATELY STARTING THE WINDOWS 10 UPGRADE: WILL GWX CONTROL PANEL HELP ME?

Yes! After weeks of research and experimentation, versions from 1.4 on include some logic specifically intended to address the following behavior: If you are seeing either of the following screens, it means that Microsoft has pushed your PC into a state that the first few versions of GWX Control Panel were not designed to reverse:

This dialog says "It's almost time for your upgrade" and only gives you the options of "Let's Reschedule" or "Start the upgrade now." (Thanks to Bill M. for the screenshot.)

This Windows Update screen says "Your upgrade to Windows 10 is ready" and only gives you the option to "Restart now." (Thanks to David R. for the screenshot.) This is different from the problem where Windows Update defaults to saying "Upgrade to Windows 10" but you can click a link to view your current OS updates.

If you are seeing either of the above two screens, exactly as they appear here, current versions of GWX Control Panel should finally be able to help you, but I am still looking for confirmation from users experiencing this specific problem. It has been an especially tough problem to work on since I've never been able to reproduce it on my own systems, and don't have access to any computers that were experiencing the issue.

OTHER PROBLEMS THAT GWX CONTROL PANEL DOES FIX:

To be perfectly clear, if you're seeing either of these following screens, these are things GWX Control Panel also can and does fix.

All versions of GWX Control Panel eliminate the Get Windows 10 App icon and its pop-up messages.

Beginning with version 1.2, GWX Control Panel can fix the problem where Windows Update says "Upgrade to Windows 10" and makes you click an extra "Show all available updates" link in order to see your current updates.

Additionally, GWX Control Panel will keep Microsoft from downloading the hidden 6GB Windows 10 install folder onto your Windows 7 or Windows 8 PC- again, if you use it early enough.

9. DOES GWX CONTROL PANEL RUN IN THE BACKGROUND AND MONITOR CHANGES MICROSOFT MAKES TO MY UPDATE SETTINGS?

Beginning with version 1.6, the optional "Monitor Mode" feature does exactly this (see the user guide for details). If you don't enable Monitor Mode, the GWX Control Panel only runs when you launch it, and while it actively monitors your Windows upgrade settings while it's running, it doesn't/can't watch your settings after you quit the program. (I am considering that functionality as an optional feature, but not promising anything yet.)

I have noticed that Microsoft occasionally re-pushes some of the Windows 10-related updates, even if you already installed them before. (For example, on October 5, my Windows Update told me I had an "important update" waiting that turned out to be the original "Get Windows 10 app" update, KB3035583, even though my Windows Update logs clearly show that update was already installed on my PC on August 21.)

It is possible that when Microsoft does this, they might overwrite some of the GWX Control Panel settings, meaning you might want to run GWX Control Panel after performing Windows Update to double-check that Microsoft didn't re-enable features you had previously disabled. I recommend restarting Windows before re-running GWX Control Panel, because some of these Windows 10-related updates don't "kick in" until after you restart Windows, and GWX Control Panel might not recognize they're in place until that time.

On some of my Windows 7 systems, I noticed that a recent Windows Update (probably this one) reset the "Windows Update OS upgrades enabled" setting, which can potentially open you up to an accidental Windows 10 upgrade. I actually don't think this was a malicious change on Microsoft's part (the update in question was actually for Windows Update itself, and I think it just cleared out ALL update-related settings, not just those related to Windows 10), but it is our first evidence that Microsoft can change some of these settings via updates, so you will need to be vigilant and run GWX Control Panel after they're installed. (Or disable automatic updates, but I'm still not comfortable doing that personally.)

10. CAN GWX CONTROL PANEL DELETE THE HIDDEN WINDOWS 10 DOWNLOAD FOLDERS?

Yes (beginning with version 1.5).

An original design goal of GWX Control Panel was to only make changes to your system that could easily be reversed, so I tried to avoid any features that involved permanently removing files. But the fact is that manually removing the $Windows.~BT and $Windows.~WS files is a hassle. There are scripts and tutorials online to help you do it, but I received a lot of requests to add this feature to the program, and it made sense. I also saw it as a personal challenge, since the work required to delete some of these hidden files programmatically is, in my opinion, some of the hardest programming you can do in Windows.

There are probably some performance and UI optimizations I can do while the process is underway, but for now it works and at least gives you a ballpark indication of where in the process you are.

11. WHO ARE YOU? 

Professionally, I've worked as a software engineer for 20 years, with the most recent 16 years of that in the Tech industry. I have developed software for every version of Windows from 3.1 through Windows 10, and have recently begun working in embedded Linux.

In my spare time I write and record music, although I've devoted the past 3 or 4 years almost exclusively to developing my recording and mixing skills so that my original compositions sound more professional. As I acquire knowledge and develop my own skills, I also maintain the Ultimate Outsider blog, which is primarily focused on music production.

And of course I also sometimes write and publish free software.

12. WHY DID YOU WRITE THIS PROGRAM?

I use my main desktop PC for music production, and at the moment some applications and hardware that are critical to my work either have known compatibility issues with, or flat-out don't work in Windows 10- so I'm sticking with Windows 7 until I'm reasonably confident my stuff will still function correctly after I upgrade. While I don't have any general negative opinions on Microsoft or Windows 10, I found the Get Windows 10 app's relentless upgrade reminders absolutely infuriating because there was no obvious way to stop them. Of course I found some solutions online (of wildly varying complexity and efficacy), but I had a bigger problem...

You see, I also had a lot of friends and family with Windows 7 and Windows 8 on their computers who were also continually pestered by the Get Windows 10 app- and I wanted to give them a solution that was literally so easy my mom could do it. None of the tutorials I'd seen about how to deal with the app are what I'd consider novice-friendly, whereas GWX Control Panel is a one-click solution.

13. DO YOU SHARE YOUR SOURCE CODE?

Like the majority of Windows developers, I do not publish my source code. While I wrote GWX Control Panel (and every other free tool I've published) on my own time, with my own OS and developer tool licenses (thank you, Microsoft, for the Visual Studio Community Edition!) and while I distribute the programs for free, the knowledge and experience that goes into my programs is my most valuable personal asset in terms of my career and livelihood. It's the reason people pay me to code for them, and I protect it.

Although the core logic behind GWX Control Panel's ability to control and configure the Get Windows 10 app is what I consider somewhat trivial, the GWX Control Panel application consumes my personal class library, which is a 100% original code base of elegant, efficient utility functions covering many aspects of working in Windows. I use it for everything I write in my free time, and to share GWX Control Panel's code would be to share my private library code- and I just won't do that.

14. WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOUR SOFTWARE?

That's a fair question, and here's what I can offer in response:

• I have a track record. I've been publishing free tools for developers, system admins, (and more recently, music producers) since the late 90s. Some of the tools at my old site have been downloaded tens of thousands of times. (I'm as surprised as anyone about that, by the way. I don't think I've even touched that site for over a decade, but every time I consider pulling the plug on it I check the stats only to find that thousands of people are still going there every month.) The only complaints I've ever gotten about those tools were from people using my 16-year-old programs on brand new computers with much more RAM and storage space than a couple of my tools were originally written to account for. Also, my more recent programs, Nexus Preset Organizer and UltimatePluginTool have been downloaded thousands of times each, and I've only ever gotten positive feedback... except for a few Mac users unhappy about the fact that I haven't ported anything to OS X.
• My recent programs are digitally signed. A digital signature serves two important purposes: First, it proves that the copy of the file you received is an authentic, unmodified binary that the author intended. If anyone attempts to tamper with the binary, doing so violates the digital signature. (More on this in the next question.) Second, the signature ties a real-world developer (as well as the developer's web domain) to the binary file. I had to go through an excruciating three-week process to get approval for my digital signature, because of the lengths that the signing authorities go to in order to ensure that certificates are awarded to legitimate individuals and businesses. Developers who write sketchy software don't sign their binaries, because doing so leaves a paper trail.
• My web site has been white-listed by the Microsoft SmartScreen filter. Windows 8 and Windows 10 have a SmartScreen feature that checks downloads against a list of known malware sites, and when you attempt to launch a downloaded program from either a known malicious site or simply a site whose provenance is not yet known, they display a warning before letting you proceed with the file. (This is different from the User Account Control warnings I describe elsewhere.) When I first started distributing software from the ultimateoutsider.com domain, my downloads triggered SmartScreen warnings simply because Microsoft had no record of my reputation one way or the other, but after a couple of weeks of consistent safe downloads from my site, I built up a positive reputation in the SmartScreen system and my downloads no longer trigger SmartScreen notifications.

15. HOW CAN I TELL IF MY COPY OF GWX CONTROL PANEL IS AUTHENTIC?

Within a day of publishing GWX Control Panel it was showing up on third-party sites for download. (It's even showing up on torrent sites, for some reason?) While I can only vouch for software that you download from my own downloads page, here are some ways you can prove the file you downloaded is authentic.

• GWX Control Panel and the official GWX Control Panel setup program are digitally signed. If someone tampers with my file, its digital signature will be invalidated. Here's how you can check that the signature is still intact: Locate the copy of GWX_control_panel.exe (or GwxControlPanelSetup.exe) you downloaded in Windows Explorer. Right-click the file and then click Properties. You should see a tab called Digital Signatures. If you don't see the Digital Signatures tab, then the file is not authentic! If you do see the Digital Signatures tab, there should be only a single "sha1" signature listed, with my real name listed as the signer. If you select the signature and click Details, you'll see that the signature is tied to both my real name and the ultimateoutsider.com domain. If you see anything other than an ultimateoutsider.com email address, then this file did not come from me!
• The official GWX Control Panel setup program does not install any additional software! If you received GWX Control Panel via some installer that had ads or installed third-party software, that was not a legitimate installer.
• Your copy should match my published MD5 and SHA-1 checksums. I have updated the downloads page with the MD5 and SHA-1 checksum values for GWX Control Panel. Here's how to confirm that your copy matches the one that I published: Get the MD5 & SHA Checksum Utility and launch it. When the program opens, click Browse to locate your downloaded copy of GWX_control_panel.exe or GwxControlPanelSetup.exe. The MD5 and SHA-1 values that appear should match the values I published for GWX Control Panel on my downloads page. The published values reflect the version that's currently available for download. Checksum values for previous versions are listed in the Release Notes section of the user guide.
• The only official distribution point for GWX Control Panel is ultimateoutsider.com. I am the only person who controls what gets published here, and while I don't have any evidence that third parties have tampered with my files in the wild, better safe than sorry. I stand behind everything I write, but only if you get it from here.

16. DOES GWX CONTROL PANEL DO ANYTHING THAT HASN'T BEEN DESCRIBED IN VARIOUS TUTORIALS OR MESSAGE BOARD THREADS?

There are lots of blog posts and message board threads discussing how to get rid of the Get Windows 10 app, but aside from frequently being too advanced for truly novice users, I've also observed the following:

• Some methods are only temporary fixes. They make the app go away until you restart Windows, or maybe until you do another Windows Update, but they don't truly stop the Get Windows 10 app from bothering you- they just postpone it.
• Some methods are what I'd consider unsafe (especially the ones that involve you disabling Windows Update).
• Some methods have potential to result in unexpected or undesired behavior if you're not completely sure what you're doing or if you apply a change to the wrong files or folders.
• Some were more permanent/final solutions than I liked. I didn't want to delete or permanently break the application; I wanted to be able to re-enable the Get Windows 10 app when I was ready to use it.
• And some just went way beyond what was truly necessary to keep the Get Windows 10 app from bothering you.

GWX Control Panel doesn't do anything particularly special (well, the early versions didn't anyway). It's just simple and safe, reversible (except for the features that delete files), and it works.

17. WHY DID YOU RENAME THE PROGRAM?

A few days after publishing this program under its original name, I discovered an online video about another, somewhat mysterious program with the same name. While this other program appeared to have the same ostensible purpose as mine- to dismiss the 'Get Windows 10' icon- the video left me with a lot of questions. For one thing, I cannot find any information about this other program on the website of the apparent developer, although the direct download link in the video's description goes to their site. I haven't used or downloaded the other program, so I won't speculate on how it works or what it does. I can only say that based on what I saw in that video, even if I had known about that other program's existence beforehand I still would have written mine. I'd have just named it something else.

So anyway, I renamed my program to eliminate any confusion between the two utilities. The funny thing is, when I was writing my tool, it was originally called "GWX Closer." I decided I didn't like that name, though, because it implied that the program only closed a running instance of the Get Windows 10 app, rather than permanently disabling it. I'm embarrassed for not having web-searched the name before I published the tool. "GWX Control Panel" appears to be safe for now, though!

18. ANYTHING ELSE?

Why yes, thank you for asking, imaginary reader! As I mentioned earlier, I am neither anti-Microsoft nor anti-Windows 10, but I am absolutely opposed to the design and methodology of the Get Windows 10 App.

The Get Windows 10 app has many traits that are usually associated with malware:

• It's non-essential software that's deceptively bundled with other, legitimate software via the Windows Update process. Even if you're the type to pick and choose Windows updates individually, the summary information about the update that installs the app makes the patch sound like a bug fix rather than a nagware installer: "Install this update to resolve issues in Windows." In computer security circles, software that claims to be something it's not is called a Trojan. You will only know what the patch actually installs if you click the More information link, which brings you to the KB3035583 Knowledge Base article.
  

  

  The misleading description of the update that installs the Get Windows 10 nagware.

• It repeatedly and frequently interrupts your day-to-day work. Once the Get Windows 10 App is installed on your computer, it will pop up unexpected reminders to upgrade, and it won't stop bugging you until you relent and move on to Windows 10. This behavior basically turns your legitimately licensed copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8 into nagware.
• It cannot be disabled or configured via normal means. Just about any other legitimate system tray ("notification area") application these days offers a right-click menu with the ability to disable notifications or prevent the tool from starting with Windows. Not doing so is in direct opposition to Microsoft's own guidelines on how to develop applications that display icons in the notification area.

  

  These are only SOME of Microsoft's design guidelines the Get Windows 10 app ignores.

• It is difficult for novice users to locate and remove. Just like most modern viruses and malware, the Get Windows 10 app installs in a location where most users would not know to look, and uses non-descriptive file and folder names to obscure its identity. The app lives in a folder named GWX ("Get Windows 10"- get it?) under the System32 folder of your Windows directory. The files are locked down with special permissions, meaning they are very difficult to rename or remove- although it is possible with the right system permissions and procedures. Of course most users look in the Programs and Features control panel when they want to remove software- and although you can use the control panel to remove the KB3035583 update, you obviously have to know that it's where the GWX app came from. But even if you manage to do that, it will also re-install automatically in future Windows updates.
• It can break user expectations. After some experimentation with the Get Windows 10 experience, I've discovered that if you reserve your Windows 10 upgrade via the 'Get Windows 10' app, but then decide you don't wish to upgrade and cancel your reservation, Windows can still automatically upgrade your computer to Windows 10 by selecting and installing an optional 'Upgrade to Windows 10' update that becomes available some time after you reserve your copy. This probably explains various reports I've heard of people receiving unexpected operating system upgrades. When a user says "no" to something you can't break your contract with the user and proceed anyway.

I have legitimate reasons for wanting to stick with Windows 7 for the moment since several tools I rely on simply aren't Windows 10-compatible yet, but Microsoft is literally trying to annoy me into upgrading to a new operating system that I'm just not ready for. The Get Windows 10 app is evil software, and I don't like the precedent that it sets, particularly given how successful it's apparently been at accomplishing Microsoft's objectives. GWX Control Panel is my humble protest against the app, and hopefully a way to help other Windows 7 and Windows 8 users regain control over their computing experience.

19. HOW CAN I SUPPORT GWX CONTROL PANEL?

I develop and maintain free software on my own time. I don't charge a fee because I want everyone to have equal access to my programs- and unlike a lot of developers of "free" software, I don't bundle any annoying third-party programs, spyware, or advertising with my tools. However, if something I wrote helped you and you'd like to express your thanks in a concrete way, you can send a donation of any amount via PayPal. Support from my visitors covers my hosting and licensing costs, and gives me incentive to keep putting out cool new utilities.

If you wish to help out, you can enter a donation amount below and then click on the Donate button. You do not need a PayPal account in order to donate! Just click the "Don't have a PayPal account" option on the page that comes up after you click the Donate button. The donation amount is in U.S. Dollars (USD).

Amount: $

Note: You might receive a personal "thank you" from me in response, but I won't sign you up for any mailing lists and you won't hear from me again unless you contact me first. Thanks for your consideration!

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