Microsoft has been increasingly aggressive in its attempts to push consumers to download Windows 10. Starting February 2, 2016, the company is upping the ante once again. As of now, Windows 10 is now classified as a "Recommended" update, which means many Windows 7 and 8.1 users will download and begin the installation automatically.
By default, Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, shipped with updates enabled and a
second box - "Give me Recommended updates the same way I receive important updates" checked as well. Plenty of users have changed these settings, but you can bet millions of people haven't. To prevent Windows Updates from automatically updating you to Windows 10, make sure your Windows update settings are set to "Check for Updates But Let Me Choose Whether to Download and Install Them".
To set windows updates to this setting follow this
procedure:
- Click on the Windows Start button and just type 'Windows Updates', the menu will automatically sort and you will see 'Windows Update' as an option to choose from the menu.
- Click on Windows Update from the menu and the Windows Update window will pop open.
- On the left hand side choose the "Change Settings" menu option.
- You will now see the screen below in the image.
- Under "Important Updates" choose "Check for
updates but let me choose whether to download and install them" from the drop down menu, then select OK.
