Computeractive

Stop & Control
WINDOWS
UPDATES
Microsoft has been causing chaos recently with its
flawed updates for Windows. Jane Hoskyn explains
how to regain control of your PC
Windows Update are two
words guaranteed to strike
fear into the heart of any PC
user. You’ve already spent
what seems like half your life staring at
the message “Installing update 1 of 128…
Installing update 2 of 128” before you can
actually use your computer. Th en there’s
a second wave of updates to fi x all the
bugs in the fi rst wave.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
• Find out what Microsoft has
downloaded behind your back
• Delete all update junk in Windows 7,
8/8.1 and 10
• Uninstall the Windows apps that
Microsoft brought back
• Reinstall programs you lost in the
Windows 10 update
• Configure Windows Update to block
unwanted updates - even in Windows 10
Microsoft has now surpassed itself with
Windows 10’s fi rst big update, which has
horrifi ed many users. Th e automatic
update – codenamed Th reshold 2 and
now known as the somewhat more
prosaic ‘November update’ – arrived
on the 12th of that month. An early
Christmas present for your shiny new
operating system (OS), you may think.
But once the wrapping was off and the
update installed, many users found they
lost far more than they gained.
Has Microsoft gone too far?
As we reported in Issue 463 (News,
page 6), the November update gave
with one hand and took away with the
other. Th e stuff it gave wasn’t what you
wanted, and the stuff it took away
included third-party software you’d
relied on for years. Microsoft’s arrogance
was astonishing. Perhaps it felt
Christmas needed a goodwill antidote?
Of course, Microsoft’s impertinence is
nothing new. Th e company has spent
months funnelling unwanted gigabytes of
Windows 10 fi les on to Windows 7 and
8/8.1 computers. And while Windows
Update problems go back to 2008 and
beyond (see the SevenForums site,
www.snipca.com/18799), it seems to be
getting much, much worse. At least you
could switch off automatic updates in
Windows 7 and 8/8.1; you can’t in
Windows 10, unless you disable Windows
Update completely (tip: don’t!).
You don’t have to be a conspiracy
theorist to see where this is heading.
It looks to us like a warm-up for
Microsoft’s grand plan: automatically
installing Windows 10 on all Windows 7
and 8/8.1 PC’s next year. Now we don’t
know that for sure, but all signs
currently point that way.
Over the next few pages we’ll show
you how to fi ght back and regain control
over Windows Update, whatever version
of the OS you’re using.
50 9 – 22 December 2015