Microsoft is telling users that their admins are somehow guilty of blocking upgrades to their PCs Credit: Zoran Zeremski/Thinkstock Admins all over the world are waking up to an unwelcome development: Microsoft has snuck a Get Windows 10 malware variant onto their customers’ systems. All signs point to an infected Patch Tuesday update — above and beyond the Internet Explorer “security” patch with its own Windows 10 ad. I’ve seen three confirmed reports this morning — with corroboration from Rod Trent on WindowsITPro and a burgeoning Reddit thread — that domain-attached PCs with no admin rights, attached to the WSUS update server, are displaying the well-known Get Windows 10 icon in the system tray. If users click on the icon, they see a very disturbing ad: Your system administrator has blocked upgrades on this PC Check with your system administrator about upgrading this PC to Windows 10. Are you a system administrator? You can customize this app to get your organization upgraded to Windows 10. Find out how. One admin reports that some domain-attached VLC-licensed PCs installed KB 3035583 — the widely reviled Get Windows 10 app — months ago, but that the Get Windows 10 icon didn’t appear until now. Another says that the crapware-hiding c:windowssystem32GWX folder has appeared. The admins I know are livid. Microsoft’s apparently trying to do an end run, telling users that their admins are somehow culpable for blocking upgrades to their PC. I haven’t seen a definitive report on how the embarrassing nag appeared, but I do know the old instructions for disabling it are wrong. In January I talked about the correct registry settings, and Microsoft subsequently revised its description of the settings in KB 3080351. Whether the revised description is correct is anybody’s guess. Regardless, the settings don’t appear to have any effect on the Get Windows 10 nag that Microsoft documents for this week’s Internet Explorer “security” patch, KB 3139929. That nag is supposed to be internal to IE11, which is a different animal altogether. Do you have any additional information on this “Your system administrator has blocked upgrades on this PC” name-and-shame game? If so, please post here or over on AskWoody.com. Related content opinion On a personal note... Woody Leonhard looks back a bit, looks ahead to retirement — and shares good news about who's picking up the Windows patching torch. By Woody Leonhard Nov 09, 2020 3 mins Small and Medium Business Computers Windows news analysis Get Microsoft's October patches installed — and seriously consider Win10 2004 Odd ancillary patches have their problems, but the mainstream October patches look pretty reliable. The big question: Is Win10 version 2004 up to your stability standards. I’m skeptical -- especially because it has few worthwhile improvements. By Woody Leonhard Oct 30, 2020 6 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Computers news analysis Microsoft Patch Alert: October 2020 The big news with this month’s patches – aside from the usual smorgasbord of strange errors – has more to do with the patches that are outside the regular cumulative update stream. Remarkably, we didn’t get any security fixes By Woody Leonhard Oct 22, 2020 189 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Office Microsoft news analysis With Patch Tuesday here, be sure Windows Update is paused With all the flotsam floating around, it’s easy to lose sight of Second Tuesdays. October’s arrives tomorrow and, with it, another round of Windows and Office patches. Take a minute to make sure you aren’t in the front lines, as eve By Woody Leonhard Oct 12, 2020 5 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe