Immunet Support For The Upcoming Windows 10

[ritchie58]

Is Microsoft going to offer their new Operating System, Windows 10, for free? That's the scuttlebut going around the web right now. Microsoft is neither confirming nor denying these questions as of this writing however. There is proof that this upgrade very will likely take place for Windows 7 SP1, 8, 8.1 and RT8.1 users. The proof is a vague optional recommended update that Microsoft offered back in late March, that is KB3035583. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3035583?wa=wsignin1.0&s=myce

This update supposedly offers additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications when new updates are available to the user. What it actually does is add a GWX folder to the system32 directory. After installiation a user will view some new active processes. That being gwxconfigmanager.exe and gwx.exe (gwx - get windows x [Windows10, as in the Roman numeral] get it?). These processes phone home to Microsoft, usually at system bootup to see if the upgrade is ready for downloading. This will be an ad based pop-up campaign, reminding users to upgrade to Win 10. Of course you will get some clueless users who will think their computers are infected with something malicious when the pop-ups start occuring.

Supposedly this upgrade will be offered free of charge for one year, even the bootleg copies of Windows will be able to upgrade. When exactly this upgrade will be pushed to users is still unknown at this time but Microsoft really wants users to upgrade there Operating Systems to this new platform. Hence the new GWX system32 folder.

 

My question to Support is how will that affect Immunet? I doubt Immunet will be compatable with Windows 10 so the Immunet cloud may very well loose a good number of users unless some R&D makes Immunet compatable with Win 10. I can't see that happening at the moment as Immunet seems to be getting very little or no new development.

 

My personal note: I uninstalled the update as it was playing havoc with my computer! When gwxconfigmanager.exe and gwx.exe were launched it was causing "drastically excessive" Disk I/O and RAM usage (sometimes using 100% of avaliable RAM), causing my computer to almost "crawl to a complete standstill!" A compatibility problem with one of my security programs maybe? Perhaps. Some AV products have actually flagged this update as malicious, Immunet not being one of them. If I want the Windows 10 upgrade I can always reinstall the KB3035583 update as it will surely will be offered in the next round of updates unless I hide the update itself. One would have to be careful Microsoft doesn't make the update a priority which would be automatically installed then. I have since reconfigured Windows update to notify me of new updates but not to automatically install them. That way I can check.

 

Anyone else have any additional info, comments or questions regarding this pending upgrade to Win 10 feel free to add a thread to this posting.
 

Regards, Ritchie...

[SimonC]

Hi ritchie,

 

Thanks for addressing this soon-to-be issue.

 

As far as the Immunet team is concerned regarding support for Windows 10 (and Windows 8/8.1), for at least the next year it is unlikely that any significant changes/upgrades will be made. After the Immunet Plus End-Of-Life date (June 16, 2016) we will be incorporating all of the Plus features into the free version. At that time the decision might be made to bring it up to speed with the newest Windows versions. That is unofficial and unconfirmed but the most likely timeline, if any, for Windows 10 support.

 

PS: I have re-titled this thread in case any consumers are curious about this.

[ritchie58]

Hi SimonC, no problem changing the title. That's a little bit of good news for a change, lol! That the Plus features will be included into the Free version some time in the future, cool! I did hear that idea was being thrown around a while back. I do hope, however, that some R&D is put into motion making Immunet compatable with the newer Microsoft OS platforms including the pending roll-out of Win 10. After all, the more people connected to the Immunet cloud the better the protection for the entire Immunet community of users. For me that seems like a no-brainer!

 

Best wishes, Ritchie...

[ritchie58]

After some experimentation I discovered what was causing the "aggressively excessive" system resource usage! It was gwxconfigmanager.exe using the svchost.exe (C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs) process associated with the Windows Task Scheduler. This causes the unusual behavior of system resourses being eaten up by Task Scheduler's svchost.exe sub-process. (not sure if gwx.exe uses the exact same svchost process but it stands to reason that's the case). Obviously the KB3035583 update creates one or more tasks when installed and uses the Task Scheduler to connect to the Microsoft servers. I believe the trigger(s) for this/these task(s) is/are launched at every new boot-up.

 

I had to reinstall and uninstall this KB3035583 update again but it was worth the effort to satisfy my own curiosity. I wonder if Microsoft has any idea that this update is causing such a resourse drain on peoples' computers? What a resourse hog, geez! If it affects other users's systems the same way as my Win 7 Ultimate x64 platform you'll have a lot of folks uninstalling/disableing it just out of sheer necessity for Pete's sake!

 

Cheers, Ritchie...

[ritchie58]

Hi all, I read an article in the spring edition of CNET magazine that outlines some of the new features with Windows 10 by contributing CNET editor Nate Ralph. Here's what Nate had to say.
 

 

Get Ready For The Everywhere OS

With Windows 10, Microsoft has changed everything. Again. The company's latest Operating System is a bid to stay relevant in a world dominated by mobile devices, blending the desktop-centricity we've grown accoustomed to for almost two decades with intelligent, touch-savvy features. But this isn't the confusing sea of changes that we saw with the ill-recieved Windows 8. Subtle shifts in design, coupled with a few new tricks, results in a measured approach that should prove familiar enough to win back some of the folks who grew frustrated with Windows 8's touch-first philosophy. But there are a lot of new ideas, too.
 

A Fresh Start
The most important part of Windows 10 is how little it has seemingly changed from Windows 7 and earlier versions of the OS. Microsoft has overhauled the familiar Start menu. The column of frequently used apps is now joined by interactive live tiles, the touch-friendly app shortcuts introduced with Windows 8. It's the best of both worlds. The Live Tiles are fully customizable: You can adjust their size and shuffle them into distinct groups, and you can add and remove apps at your leasure, to keep things from getting to cluttered. Windows 8 introduced "modern" apps, which aimed to offer a uniform experience on tablets and PC's but took over the display. If you've used it, you probably encountered the jarring issue of bouncing back & forth between the Desktop and Start screen. Modern apps now behave like normal Desktop apps, constrained to their own windows that you can drag around and resize as you see fit.

 

New Tricks
But there's more to Windows 10 than a better Start screen. The Task View button lets you see all currently running apps, while virtual desktops can create independent workspaces that behave just like a normal Desktop, splitting up tasks or creating seperate desktops for work and whatever else you'd like. The Snap functionality introduced in Windows 7 also gets an overhaul. Drag an app or a window into a corner of your display, and it will resize itself, allowing you to quickly arrange up to four apps on a single display. You'll also be able to use new trackpad gestures to quickly manage or switch between active apps.

 

The Future Of Windows

In Microsoft's vision of the future, all of our digital devices are ruled by a single, unified OS. The services and apps we use will exist everywhere, and our tools and interfaces will morph to suit our needs. Windows 10 is our first taste of that future. It's an OS that will play well with keyboards, touch-screens, trackpads and mice, and will run on everything from powerful gaming PC's to smart-phones. More important, it will be fimiliar, so we can spend less time figuring out interfaces or hunting for compatible apps and more time getting things done.

[ritchie58]

The roll-out of Windows 10 will begin on the 29th of this month. Here's some more info regarding Windows 10 from a CNET article, Windows 10: Nine things you need to know. http://www.cnet.com/how-to/windows-10-what-you-need-to-know/?tag=nl.e214&s_cid=e214&ttag=e214&ftag=CAD3c77551

[TIGER-1]

Hi richie58

 

well i am new here, then congrats for all and thanks for good info about Windows 10.

[ritchie58]

Hi TIGER-1 and welcome to the Immunet forum.

All is not going well for some folks that have upgraded to Windows 10. Some people have reported that their pheripherals (copier, fax, scanner or printer) no longer function after upgrading because the drivers for these devices are not compatable with Windows 10. If this occurs Microsoft recommends that you contact the manufacturer to see if they have drivers that will work with the new Operating System. If it's a newer device from a major manufacturer chances are that new drivers have been developed and exist or soon will be. If it's an older peice of equipment good luck with hoping the manufacturer has developed drivers that will function for your device. You may end up purchasing a new pheripheral that "IS" compatable with Windows 10.

Regards, Ritchie...