Steve Gibson of Gibson Research Corporation is a well-known security expert – cranky, contrarian, deeply wedded to the past (his personal computer runs Windows XP), and old-school in his approach to writing programs. His website is defiantly retro, a fine example of what the Internet looked like twenty years ago.
He just wrote the utility we need to prevent Windows 10 upgrades and remove the persistent notice from the system tray.
Never10 is a miniscule download, only 81k. When you run it (no installation is required), it has one button: “Disable Win10 upgrade.” Push the button and the program will instantly make the registry changes approved by Microsoft for disabling the upgrade. Restart your computer. The notice will be gone and you won’t have an unexpected overnight upgrade.
Seriously, it couldn’t be simpler. Takes ten seconds. Run the tiny downloaded program, push the button, you’re done.
If you’re curious, Steve explains the technical details of how Never10 works and provides some background about it here.
Don’t be too hasty! Windows 10 upgrades are going very well for most people now, six months after the initial release of Windows 10. I think most computers should be upgraded to Windows 10 – details are in this article.
There are, however, some of you who should use the Never10 utility and never upgrade, including: business computers that are more than four years old; laptops with limited hard drive space; and older computers used by people who are conservative by nature and would prefer to avoid risk and change.
There is another free utility that’s been available for a few months for disabling the Windows 10 upgrades, GWX Control Panel. I’ve recommended it in the past and it’s still available. It’s never been my favorite program; it has to be installed and it has too many options. Never10 is a better choice if you want to put this behind you and get rid of the Microsoft nag screens with absolutely no fuss.
This won’t close the door to Windows 10 permanently, by the way. If you run it again, you can have the Windows 10 notice back in the system tray after the next restart. And you can always start the upgrade manually from this Microsoft page. Don’t be afraid to run Never10 on a Windows 7 or 8 computer if your inclination today is to pass on the upgrade. You’ll be able to change your mind later.
A simple program. Who knew such a thing was still possible?
