Microsoft loosens up Windows 7 .iso downloads

[joeekaitis]

In its inscrutable wisdom, Microsoft has always let you just walk up and download Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 .iso images without so much as prompting for a product key, but Windows 7 downloads still need one. The good news is you can now use any individually licensed product key. Windows 7 Enterprise and other volume licensed versions are a no-go. You can even choose 32- or 64-bit, regardless of the original DVD's system architecture. I tested and confirmed this with product keys for both Windows Home Premium OEM on a Dell computer and the key from a system builder DVD I had bought years ago. I haven't checked to see if these are universal .isos than can be converted to install any edition by renaming the ei.cfg file (with a valid product key, nothing shady or illegal going on here) but most likely they are.

 

[washer111]

If there are any stalwarts here holding onto 7 like me - You may wish to install the "Get Windows X Control Panel" to cull those annoying prompts, and prevent Windows Update secretly downloading and installing Windows X.

Should you actually want to install the OS - Might I suggest avoiding Microsoft's ever-questionable "upgrade process" (this has been a dangerous process since the days of Windows 95), downloading Windows X and creating a bootable media of some description to wipe your hard disk and cleanly install Windows.
Obviously you'd ensure you have a backup first.

(While I'm here)
You may also wish to remove the telemetry updates - which, aside from collecting information, also seem to be doing enough to harm the performance of the systems of some (My old HP tablet has sped up since I "dealt with" those updates).
http://techne.alaya.net/?p=12499
And if you're like me and live in "the twilight zone" of internet connectivity, any gains in bandwidth are welcome. So stopping Windows chin-wagging with MS about whatever should help your connection speeds slightly.

 

[joeekaitis]

When I do Windows 10 upgrades . . .

. . . at my monthly Computer Clinic fundraiser at church, I always encourage the donor to take the plunge and let me do a clean everything-goes upgrade using the latest .iso instead of the bits 'n' pieces Microsoft has downloaded. I also turn off Live Tiles and go through the Privacy section of Settings and turn off all unnecessary sharing and background apps.

No one has said "But Joe, I WANT Live Tiles eating up my internet connection and background apps telling Microsoft everything about me and my family."

 

[jp10558]

Avoid Windows 10

The problem with modern Windows is that MS is hell bent on slurping all the data they can get - to an extent that even Google's Android hadn't gone before. Thinking that you can leave an OS connected to the net where it will get updates and can prevent the vendor from making it do whatever they want it to (i.e. scan, upload and profile everything about you, your files and how you use the net and your computer) is pretty much a delusion people tell themselves so they can stay with Windows. Which is kind of sad if you think about it. How many people really use lots of Windows specific software at home? Heck, what's got MS so worried is that a large number of people get by *better* with an iPad or Samsung tablet (less viruses, less work to manage, no need to pay for techs much of the time, an app for anything) than with any Windows OS.

I recommend anyone who cares about stability, privacy or heck just control of their computer steer away from Windows 10. The problem is MS has backported all this stuff to Windows 7 to try and force you on to Windows 10 or get much of the data anyway via patches. The last MS OS to not have this backported was Vista, and we all know how good that is. XP is a virus magnet. If you have a trusted tech and like your current hardware, you need them to either manage your Windows 7 updates or convert you to a Linux OS. If you don't Apple is using this as an opportunity to put privacy as their commercial differentiator. The premium may be worth it. Plus you get to feel all Apple "cool".

Talk to a trusted tech, but if they're all Windows all the time and have never used or looked at other OSs, they're doing you a disservice and I'd find another one.

I can go on and on but won't bore you more.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Since I got my new Asus laptop

which came with windows 10 home 64 bit, I had heard about all the privacy so I did some looking around at vids and found the company that makes the Spybot Search and Destroy also makes a small program called spybot anti beacon..It disables the telemetry in the registry. Even though you go into privacy settings and uncheck everything, there's things that need to be manually done in the registry....and this program does that automatically.

I'm sure Linux is best, but I've been a windows person since 1995.

http://https//www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/

 

[jp10558]

Lol, me too - I was a Windows person since 1995 when my first IBM Aptiva came with a pre-release of Windows 95. Actually, I had used Windows 3.1 at a relatives house before that. All the way through last September when I converted to Scientific Linux 7.1 at work, and then a couple weeks later at home. Granted, I'm not an "average user" but I also converted my Mom, who is - and was on an old PC running XP still. She wasn't going to buy a new computer, but SL7 on there and it's like a new PC. Still does everything she wants but she asks me questions A LOT less often because Firefox and Flash update themselves and so facebook seems to work better than an old Opera and old flash on XP. Also she doesn't have to try and understand what the AV program notices mean (mostly because I haven't installed one yet as it's less necessary)...

It's also nice because she doesn't have to reboot very often, though XP was done with that with the removal of updates so . . . Win 7 still reboots every 2 weeks or so it seems with some update. That's actually the most common complaint about Windows 7 at work is the "constant" (actually overnight ,once a week or 2 weeks when there's a patch) reboots. Which the Linux workstations just don't do. They reboot for power outages, and "when one feels like it".

For an IT guy, the best thing about Linux is that it's a lot like how I felt with WIn95 - something new, and always learning something new. I realize that's not a benefit to most users, but once you know Windows (or any OS), it ends up being mostly the same.

The thing that really excites me (I'm just geeky I guess) is I bought crossover and I can run some Windows programs on Linux. Of course, now there's Ubuntu for Win 10 so you can go the other way...

Anyway, the nice thing about Linux is that it's still "dumb" enough to have an override to use the "old fashoned" setting where it just does what you tell it to and it won't second guess you, but by default it now has some of the nice "auto - make it work" stuff we've all expected from Windows. Microsoft has forgotten that having that override is really desired by the power users, and has gotten rid of it.

The issue with using Spybot AntiBeacon, which I checked out, is that any patch from MS can just re-set the registry settings (they've done it a couple times when someone changed their default browser for instance on Win 10), or ignore the registry setting, or decide to use different ones.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I'm trying to remember

and I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think in 1995 when we got a used desktop computer and used AOL dial up, that computer had 3.1 on it (I think), for some reason that 3.1 sticks in my head, like I remember seeing it when the computer booted up. It wasn't until 1997 when I bought a compaq computer at Sears and it had windows 98 on it, so I'm thinking I may have completely skipped windows 95. Anyway, around 1997/98 when it was becoming really mainstream to get on the net, you could never get through to anyone's phone because they were always on the internet. Remember that? LOL
I think my history goes like this - from 3.1, to 98, to xp, to 7, to 8.0, to 8.1 and 10.

I completely skipped 95 (I think), windows ME, and Vista

I was listening to an art bell archive show from late 94 I think, and windows 95 was just coming out, and he was asking anyone who had it to call him to let him know their thoughts, and he got a lot of callers on it....It was so weird to know how ancient that was but it sounded as if it were happening right then.

about the anti-beacon - as soon as microsoft updates and patches, anti-beacon will soon follow with an update (hopefully)

It does work, because when I go to privacy settings, some things are completely shaded out and can't be changed - like feedback and diagnostics. Before, you could only use the drop down box to change the least setting to basic. But the drop down is greyed out and you can't change it.