Microsoft set its goal of having one billion devices running Windows 10 within three years, and one of the company’s plan to reach that goal is to make the operating system a free upgrade for Windows 8.x and Windows 7 customers. The problem is that the software giant is using questionable tactics to lure customers to upgrade to Windows 10.
Tactics that haven’t been well received for many customers wanting to stay in their current version. Since Windows 10 released to the public, Windows 7 and Windows 8.x users have found that the upgrade files will download automatically on their computer, and other people found themselves practically forced to upgrade.
While Microsoft now has documented the instructions to prevent eligible systems to upgrade to Windows 10 and stop the nagging by changing settings on the registry and using Group Policy. It’s still a complicated task to do for most users.
Never10 can stop the Windows 10 upgrade
Never10 is a new and free tool released by Gibson Research Corporation that easily helps users to put an end to the upgrade. However, it’s not forever, the key benefit of Never10 is the ability to control whether you want the Windows 10 upgrade or not. Then when you’re ready the tool can easily roll back the changes so you can upgrade your PC to the latest version of the operating system.
Never10 is a portable app that doesn’t require installation. When you run Never10 and click the Disable Win10 Upgrade button, the tool will simply change the corresponding settings already documented by Microsoft to prevent the upgrade.
The tool also doesn’t remove the installation files if they have been already downloaded on your computer. This is something that you will have to remove manually.
This is only to avoid upgrading. If you have already accidentally upgraded your system to Windows 10, you can use the rollback feature on the Settings app, or if the going back to the previous version is no longer available, you will need to a clean install of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 to go back.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].