OT, Get rid of this icon

[Muggles]

Does anyone know how I can get rid of this 'Get Windows 10' icon out of my systray?

[bob_villa]

Right-click an empty part of the task bar and select properties, click customize and on the drop-down for GWX select "hide icon and notifications".

[Muggles]

YES! Thanks. I knew there had to be some easy way to do that. :D

[FrozenNorth]

Yes.

[Gordon Shumway]

There is a recent thread in this group that explains how.

Don't you just love Micro$oft?

[Mayayana]

| > Right-click an empty part of the task bar and select properties, click customize and on the drop-down for GWX select "hide icon and notifications". | > | | YES! Thanks. I knew there had to be some easy way to do that. :D |

If you have any more trouble with it, check alt.windows7.general. I don't enable automatic updates, so I haven't dealt with this problem. But I've noticed the discussion. From what I've read it seems to be a pesky bug that's hard to make stay gone. :) Microsoft *really* wants you to switch to Win10.

[Muggles]

When I turned my pc back on this morning the icon was there again, so, I removed it again. I guess I'll see if it stays gone this time.

Why are they so gun ho for people to go to Win10?

[notbob]

Cuz M$ is dying. Plus, they want others to see it. It's like "Intel Inside" or Apple laptops showing the Apple logo.

nb

[Mayayana]

| When I turned my pc back on this morning the icon was there again, so, I | removed it again. I guess I'll see if it stays gone this time. |

I'm not surprised. I think some people were uninstalling the update that installed the Win10 nag, only to find that MS had reclassified it as critical in order to get it installed again.

| Why are they so gun ho for people to go to Win10? |

It's a major transition, probably not so much of Windows itself, but of their business model. They want to turn Windows into a subscription service, with lots of services and apps sold through it. The nag is very clever. They're presenting Win10 as not a new product but rather a critical Windows update.The vast majority of people are sure to be suckered by that. All they need do is to simply *allow* Microsoft to convert their computer. And Microsoft tells them it's needed, so of course they'll go along.

The basic subscription idea dates back to Active Desktop in the 90s. (As some may remember, Microsoft was trying to sell Desktop space for ads to commercial entities. It started with the ad billboard for Disney and others, known as the Channel Bar. People were then expected to "subscribe" to "channels", which essentially meant choosing to have the likes of Disney run dynamic ads in boxes on your monitor screen.... Unsurprisingly, no one chose to be harassed by ads and Active Desktop gradually faded away.)

The software rental idea came back with the "thin client" fad that never happened (2000-ish), the SaaS fad (software as a service - mid-2000s) and is now rearing its head again as the cloud fad: If they can get paid when you use software that's more lucrative than just selling it. It becomes a rental business then. Just as you'd likely pay more if you had to pay a fee every time you used a "free" drill or circular saw. The big reason for the change, overall, was that software became cheaper and needed less frequent updates.

On the bright side, Microsoft's phone business has almost entirely collapsed, so that might put a dent in their plan to hook people into Metro services across devices.

Another reason for subscription/rental is that the Internet and devices, generally, are headed in that direction. Cellphones are now computers with software programs, but people have far less control than they do on a desktop/laptop. And the software is mostly providing services. The technology is gradually shifting from tools to multimedia entertainment devices. The Internet has become heavily commercialized and computers of all kinds are turning into interactive TV that watches you constantly, shows you targetted ads, and calculates what new services you might be willing to pay for. (Even in your car.)

There's also an interesting side story to all this: MS has said Win10 will be free. The logic seemed to be that they'd make up the difference, and then some, through spying for ads and taking a cut of app sales. But more recently there has been an indication that MS also intends to charge a subscription fee for Win10 once it's established. Sort of like those cable deals that advertise the 1st month free, while the fine print has an endless list of trumped-up fees and hidden costs. See here for the analysis:

The gist of it: Forbes analyzed a report MS made to their investors, saying they expect to recoup the losses from "giving away" Win10, through subscription fees, getting it all back in 3 years. The trick is that Win10 is free *for the life of your device*, but MS is rating device life between 2 and 4 years.

Last I saw, no one was quite sure what it all means and Microsoft has refused to come clean about the actual facts. The one thing certain is that every version of Windows has been more intrusive, more restrictive and less of a product than the one before. MS claims Windows is intellectual property, yet when you pay for a copy you don't get to keep that copy. If your computer breaks next month you have to buy that same license again, because you no longer even own functional install media. It's virtually certain that Win10 will carry on the tradition, making it difficult or impossible not to be online, allow spying and buy stuff when you use Win10.

[Muggles]

hmmm From a marketing and sales perspective, it could work for a little while, at least until people decide to dump windows altogether and use something that is actually free to use.

[Ed Pawlowski]

It explained hot to make some changes in updates, registry and renew your blood pressure medication, reboot, restart, revive, but it came back with the next update. Hiding it is much easier.

[Terry Coombs]

The more I read the happier I am that I stuck with XP . I have licenses for Vista Ultimate in both 64 and 32 bit , actually ran that 32 on a media server I had hooked up at the house in Memphis several years ago . Bloated , but it had some nice features that made it a good choice for that purpose . I suspect the bloated OS's out of M$ are part of what drove the leaps in processor development ...

[Frank]

It would be a serious mistake for them to charge for updates every couple of years. They will keep chasing people away.

I had figured they lost a lot of pc users with the confusion of Win 8 and made Win 10 to look more like the old system and decided give updates free in competition with Apple and Android where I believe updates are free.

In emulating Apple and Android they try to suck you into their store to buy aps and make money off software in that manner.

I was annoyed in Win 8 to lose the old time wasting games and had to go to the ap store to get them for free. "Free" now means ads on the game page, one is that to get rid of the ads you only have to pay something like a dollar a month ;)

[Muggles]

I like my xp laptop, too, but I end up using my Win7 desktop more probably because it's hooked up to a bigger monitor.

[gfretwell]

Andy Grove and Bill Gates acknowledged this years ago.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Only reason to upgrade to W10 is because you have W8 or 8.1 What a mess they can be.

[bob_villa]

...and this from M$

[Mayayana]

| ...and this from M$

It's been pointed out in the Win7 group that uninstalling and hiding only works for the current version. Apparently MS issued at least one "update" of that patch, with a new video in it, which then overrode peoples' settings because it was technically a new version of the patch!

So for anyone who leaves auto-update enabled there may be no escaping. It might be like non-activation. Instead of nagging you to say, "This Windows in not genuine" it will nag you to say, ""This Windows is outdated".

That actually makes a lot of sense for MS. It would be a way for MS to define Windows as subscription software retroactively and make it very difficult for most people to keep using Win7.... all in the name of customer service. :)

[Sam E]

Each version of Windows since 2000 has been worse than the previous one. W10 is an exception. It's slightly less worse than W8.1.