Ask Leo! #581 – Blocking Windows 10, Keeping Backups, Your Email Address, and more…

"Hiding the SSID is a simple added layer." As Microsoft's Steve Riley once said, "This is a myth that needs to be forcibly dragged out behind the woodshed, strangled until it wheezes its last labored breath, then shot several times for good measure." Disabling the SSID does absolutely nothing to increase security; on the contrary, it decreases it. Some reading: http://blogs.technet.com/b/steriley/archive/2007/10/16/myth-vs-reality-wireless-ssids.aspx. The post is almost a decade old, but as applicable now as it was then. See too the article linked to near the end of the post entitled, "Why Non-broadcast Networks are not a Security Feature."

Or run the "GWX Control Panel" from the Ultimate Outsider. It's very popular so rather than including the link here, just Google it!

In short, the GWX Control Panel turns off the nags, stops the Win10 downloads, optionally deletes what already has been downloaded and even optionally will monitor the flags to make sure Microsoft doesn't reset them without your knowledge.

Recommended!

I did exactly that. Researched it, ran it, and liked it enough to post an article about it: Block Windows 10 With GWX Control Panel (and on top of that I donated to the author as well).

"As I see it, everything being suggested in the comments comes down to how much risk you are willing to accept." Yup, it's all about understanding and balancing the risks. - and to do that, you need to understand that the security mechanisms you put in place to mitigate those risks can themselves introduce a whole new set of risks. For example, having a locked door will help keep a burglar out, but it may also keep you out if you lose your key. Adding a second lock will make your house more secure, but you've then got more keys to manage and an increased risk of losing one. And, of course, the more locks you have, the more time it takes to open your door - and the greater the risk that one of them will break and refuse to open. The same applies to computer security. For example, encrypting your data will prevent other people from accessing it, but it'll also keep you from accessing it if you forget your password (as an aside, I've encountered far more people who've permanently lost access to their encrypted data because of a forgotten password than I have people who've had their data compromised because it wasn't encrypted).