A close look at the Never 10 automatic upgrades disabler for Windows 7, Windows 8.x

Never 10 is a new freeware tool which aims to prevent Windows 7 and Windows 8.x systems from automatically updating to Windows 10. Sounds like a host of other recent update-blockers, we thought -- but no. It’s more interesting than that.

First up, it’s written by veteran developer Steve Gibson, the man behind SpinRite, ShieldsUp! and assorted early Windows freeware, and someone who knows what he’s doing. If you need more reassurance, the 81KB download size tells you there’s no adware here, no extra payload.

Never 10 is also relatively safe to use. Unlike some of the competition, it doesn’t disable services, delete files or folders, remove or block Windows updates, or otherwise mess with your system. Instead, the program acts as a simple front end to Microsoft’s official "don’t force-upgrade this PC" Registry setting.

This makes normal operations very straightforward. Run the program, it’ll tell you Windows 10 updating is enabled, so you hit "Disable". If you want to update later, run the program again, it’ll tell you updating is disabled, and you click "Enable".

The one small complication is that this setting only works with the latest version of Windows Update. If you don’t have this, Never 10 offers to download and install it for you. After you’ve done that, you’re able to disable/ enable Windows 10 upgrades as we’ve described.

This isn’t going to remove every trace of the Windows update mechanism. You may still have the GWX process running, a system tray icon, other fragments here and there. But Never 10 should still prevent auto-updates to Windows 10, and without the risks you have with similar programs, which is good enough for us.

Never 10 is a freeware application for Windows 7 and 8.