Sunday, September 13, 2015

Preventing Windows 10 Upgrades from Windows Update with GWX Control Panel

After releasing GWX Control Panel last month, I learned of an even more troubling threat to Windows 7 and 8 users than Microsoft's annoying Get Windows 10 notification app: Numerous people reported that their Windows Update control panels had been hijacked by the Windows 10 upgrade. And more recently, other users reported finding complete Windows 10 installation folders on their hard drives, even though they hadn't opted in to upgrading to the new operating system. When the anger that led me to write the original GWX Control Panel welled up again I realized it was time for some updates...

UPDATES AND DOCUMENTATION

You can download the latest version of GWX Control Panel from my downloads page, and you can read the complete user guide for a detailed description of all features.

VIDEO TUTORIALS

I've also put together two short video tutorials. Here's the original video, which covers version 1.1 of the program:



And here's the next tutorial that only covers the new features that debuted in versions 1.2 and 1.3. This discusses how you can return the Windows Update control panel back to its regular behavior if it gets hijacked by Windows 10, and also explains how you can use GWX Control Panel to keep track of the hidden Windows 10 download folder.