For some time now, I’ve been getting pop-up messages on my computer, inviting me to upgrade. I’ve ignored them. Lately, I’ve been getting pop-up messages and, when I click the X to make them go away, instead they start to download Windows 10! The only way for me to stop the download is to restart my computer.
Are there reasons why I don’t want to upgrade? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Should I just stop fighting and accept the inevitable?
I flat out refuse to do it.
There has to be a way to stop those pop-ups. Must be something in your settings.
Why do you refuse to do it, @SouthFloridaMom9 ?
There are probably others but a program called GWX Control Panel will take care of the problem. No side effects I’ve noticed though it would smart to do your own due diligence as to it’s safety.
Living off cell service without unlimited data pretty much required serious steps, since Windows 10 was downloading to my wife’s computer, no matter how I tweaked update settings.
I’ve had the same experience, VH. I had to restart my computer to stop the download too. My kids both have newer laptops with Windows 10, and are fine with it. When it comes to my laptop, though, I follow DH’s advice that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
I upgraded all our laptops (6 in the house) and while I had some minor issues doing the upgrade on a couple of them (upgrade just seemed to stop, and I had to restart it), once they were all upgraded, we’ve had no issues.
Mine made it impossible not to upgrade. And one of my perfectly fine but older printers (with 2 brand new ink cartridges) is now useless as there are no drivers for Windows 10. There are ways to uninstall it and go back to the previous version, but I am learning to cope 
We were forced to upgrade. In the process, we unchecked a ton of boxes that would have automatically shared all sorts of information with Microsoft, so it’s worth reading through it.
My husband has it on his computer and I dislike the way it looks. I, too, am in the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it category.”
I also don’t trust anything that hounds me endlessly. Seems manipulative which then makes me wonder why all the effort.
@jym626 - personally, I would just get a new printer…but if you really want to go back you can:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/going-back-to-windows-7-or-windows-81
Yes @ClaremontMom I already bought a new printer. The cartridges almost cost more than the friggin’printer. And my old printer, which did everything I needed to do (print scan copy) is now relegated to storage in case I need a copier.
Just curious…why don’t you want to upgrade to Windows 10? It is quite good, very similar to Windows 7. Not at ALL like horrible Windows 8.
We have upgraded all of PCs to Windows 10.
I have Windows 7 set up the way I like it. I don’t want to learn another GUI as I would on Win10, and I have heard horror stories of people who tried to upgrade to Win10 on a Win7 machine which then becomes a brick. If I want Win 10, I’ll buy a computer with it as a fresh install, not as an install on a previous version of windows.
^^@jym626 had to freaking buy a new printer!
This is the kind of thing that makes me distrust Microsoft.
PS: I am one of probably 200 people in the US who has a Windows phone (LOL). So I want to stick with Microsoft stuff. But gosh.
I had Windows 7 on one computer, Windows 8 on another computer, and windows 10 on the third computer. I actually find windows 10 pretty similar to Windows 8. I didn’t like Windows 8 but I got used to it. Windows 10 isn’t that different it’s just annoying as I was most familiar with Windows 7 and was perfectly happy with it. And I had a printer that worked just fine. I now have more printers that I need both at home and at work.
We finally gave in and upgraded the other day-both H and I had 8.1 on our PC’s. I had been getting very frustrated with my PC being slow to boot up, slow to operate and having random websites stall everything. That has all gone away with Win 10. It is SO much faster in every way now, so clearly it was 8 that was the problem. H has noticed no problems, and we can still print on the printer. It seems odd to me to insist on sticking with an older, clunkier version of software, but to each his own.
My computer that had Windows 7 is no different with Windows 10. Still slow to
Load, had to be rebooted, etc. it’s an older laptop but still has plenty of storage. Just a slower processes. Oh well.
I had no issues with any of my software (and some of my s/w is still from XP days) or hardware (printer &external DVD drive). Everything worked just fine for me on the upgrade. 3 computers upgraded from Windows 7 and 3 from Windows 8.
I was able to keep my Windows 7 computer from automatically installing Windows 10 using the instructions found here http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/how-stop-windows-10-upgrade-downloading-your-system . The reason I didn’t want to upgrade was because I have a program that dates back to Windows 98 days, I think. It ran okay under Win7 but it won’t run under Windows 10. I actually ended up buying a new Windows 10 laptop and keeping the old one just so I can continue using the old program ! X(
This is a link from Bogleheads that has some other solutions to the automatic download problem. https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=183693