Get Rid of Windows 10 Icon, Prevent Upgrade

[Oubaas]

I thought that I'd post this info for those interested. I run a lot of older games, some of which will no longer work under Windows 10. So, staying with Windows 7 64-bit works best for me. I also don't like seeing that nagging, "Get Windows 10" icon in my system tray all the time. So here's a quick, easy way to get rid of the icon and prevent your machine from being upgraded without your asking for the upgrade.

You need to visit this link:

http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/

Download "GWX Control Panel" right at the top. I used the standalone version, but you can get an installer as well. Once you have it onboard, simply double-click the executable and read. It's pretty much self-explanatory. The program allows you to remover the tray icon, remove already downloaded Windows 10 upgrade files that might be taking up over 6 GB on your harddrive, it lets you remove non-critical Windows 10 upgrade settings that might be causing strange behavior on your machine, etcetera.

You can also change the default Windows Update behavior so that non-critical updates are not treated the same as critical updates. This helps to prevent sneaky Windows 10 additions.

Optionally, after running GWX Control Panel once, you might want to restart, open a command prompt with "Run As Adminstrator" and then run:

sfc /scannow

This will straighten out anything messed up that it finds, but you will then need to go back to GWX Control Panel and make sure everything Windows 10 related is removed.

Lastly, you can then enable real-time monitoring with GFX Control Panel and if there is an attempt to install anything Windows 10 related on your machine, you'll be notified immediately.

GWX Control Panel still works as of this writing. Some previous utilities that fixed the Windows 10 issues no longer work as Microsoft has recently changed a number of things about the whole Windows 10 upgrade process.

So if you want to stay with Windows 7 or 8, this will do it for you.

Cheers!

Oubaas