Microsoft is back on the warpath with 'additional upgrade scenarios' for forced Windows 10 downloads

'AllowOSUpgrade' is switching back on, downloading renamed binaries once again

Reports are emerging that Microsoft has once again renamed and relaunched its Windows 10 upgrade files for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users, apparently in an attempt to circumvent increasing push back from users who aren't ready to move to Windows 10.

Computing last reported on the phenomenon back in October, when a "snooping patch" and "scanning program" being added to Microsoft's Windows Update Client salvo, their filenames subtly changed from the initial set that Microsoft provided before Windows 10's release.

Speaking to ComputerWorld, Josh Mayfield - who created an application known as GWX Control Panel specifically to combat Windows 10 ‘forced' downloads - said that he began "getting reports" over Thanksgiving weekend that the "AllowOSUpgrade" setting on Windows that his application disables was being reawakened, even resetting itself once a day if users switched it off.

"This is new behavior, and it does leave your PC vulnerable to unwanted Windows 10 upgrade behavior," summarised Mayfield.

Mayfield also confirmed that the same named updates, but with changed binary filenames, were being served up by Microsoft this time, just as last time.

In its December 2015 release of Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows 8, Microsoft cryptically states that the new client update "enables support for additional upgrade scenarios from Windows 8.1 [or Windows 7] to Windows 10", while listing a "smoother experience when you have to retry an operating system upgrade because of certain failure conditions" as a slightly suspect secondary reason.

Microsoft has been promising since late October that it intends to make it "easier to upgrade" to Windows 10, with executive VP of the Windows and devices group Terry Myerson posting a blog explaining how Windows 10 - which was initially an upgrade requested by a user by clicking the logo button in Windows 7 or 8's taskbar - will "soon" become an "optional update" instead.

However, Myerson also stated that "You can specify that you no longer want to receive notifications of the Windows 10 upgrade through the Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 settings pages," - a statement which seems to appear less and less accurate as the post-release months of Windows 10 roll by.