Banner across screen

What is going on. I have a huge banner across the screen saying get win
8.1 for free.

I will not go to the app store (as I have to log in to MS) and I can't use
the computer.

I can't get to Task manager to kill it.

I now have to break out the Linux Mint machine to do any work.

On Sat, 02 Nov 2013 18:14:40 +0000, Bill wrote:

What is going on. I have a huge banner across the screen saying get win
8.1 for free.

I will not go to the app store (as I have to log in to MS) and I can't
use the computer.

I can't get to Task manager to kill it.

I now have to break out the Linux Mint machine to do any work.

OK found it. I have to go to the Store, run Task Manager to kill the
store, then I can use the machine.

This is insane. No professional user or organisation wants this sort of
nonsense.

On 11/2/2013 7:20 PM, Bill wrote:
On Sat, 02 Nov 2013 18:14:40 +0000, Bill wrote:

What is going on. I have a huge banner across the screen saying get win
8.1 for free.

I will not go to the app store (as I have to log in to MS) and I can't
use the computer.

I can't get to Task manager to kill it.

I now have to break out the Linux Mint machine to do any work.

OK found it. I have to go to the Store, run Task Manager to kill the
store, then I can use the machine.

This is insane. No professional user or organisation wants this sort of
nonsense.


Which begs the question why you installed it.

--
Alias

The only real problems are avarice, anger and stupidity.

On Sat, 02 Nov 2013 19:57:34 +0100, Alias wrote:

On 11/2/2013 7:20 PM, Bill wrote:


OK found it. I have to go to the Store, run Task Manager to kill the
store, then I can use the machine.

This is insane. No professional user or organisation wants this sort of
nonsense.


Which begs the question why you installed it.

Only because I "support" people who now and again buy replacement
machines. 2 of my contacts have, one has already sold his high-end Acer
tablet/laptop and bought a Macbook Air.

On 11/2/2013 8:27 PM, Bill wrote:
On Sat, 02 Nov 2013 19:57:34 +0100, Alias wrote:

On 11/2/2013 7:20 PM, Bill wrote:


OK found it. I have to go to the Store, run Task Manager to kill the
store, then I can use the machine.

This is insane. No professional user or organisation wants this sort of
nonsense.


Which begs the question why you installed it.

Only because I "support" people who now and again buy replacement
machines. 2 of my contacts have, one has already sold his high-end Acer
tablet/laptop and bought a Macbook Air.


Oh, OK, understood then.

--
Alias

The only real problems are avarice, anger and stupidity.

On Sat, 2 Nov 2013 18:14:40 +0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

What is going on. I have a huge banner across the screen saying get win
8.1 for free.

A screenshot would have been nice. Are you sure it's Windows and not
some sort of malware?

--
s|b

On Sat, 02 Nov 2013 22:21:10 +0100, s|b wrote:

On Sat, 2 Nov 2013 18:14:40 +0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

What is going on. I have a huge banner across the screen saying get win
8.1 for free.

A screenshot would have been nice. Are you sure it's Windows and not
some sort of malware?

As it killed the machine, I couldn't do a screenshot. On my 12.1" screen
it was blue about an inch high completely reaching from left to right.
Just had the wording and the one button.

I'm fairly certain it wasn't malware, but it hasn't appeared on the other
Win8 test machine I have here. Maybe I am the first of many, or maybe it
is related just to the particular edition that I have, "N".
I will add Malwarebytes tomorrow and check again with that.

If it appears on the other machine, I'll break out the camera.

On Sat, 02 Nov 2013 22:21:10 +0100, "s|b" wrote:

On Sat, 2 Nov 2013 18:14:40 +0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

What is going on. I have a huge banner across the screen saying get win
8.1 for free.

A screenshot would have been nice. Are you sure it's Windows and not
some sort of malware?

I saw it on my machine a few days ago, as well. The PC is completely
unusable during the time that the banner is displayed against a solid blue
background. I thought it was a BSOD, at first, but it has a single button
that says something like "Go to the Microsoft store". After unsuccessfully
trying a few things, I clicked the button and everything returned to normal.
It didn't take me to the store and it hasn't asked me again since then to do
anything related to 8.1.

It's pure laziness that has prevented me from dumping this POS OS and going
back to Windows 7. Windows 8 is just awful.

I had the same ransomware message come up from Microsoft as well on my
Windows 8 system. It appeared right after the system did an automatic
scan for Microsoft updates after being powered off for a day or so.

It appears to be another heavy handed approach by Microsoft to force
those who know little about computers and scare them into an update to
8.1 upgrade.

I wonder if someone at Microsoft has been taking lessons from the
CryptoLocker people since it sure sounds like their methods. "Do the
update or your computer will not respond to you!" is the way I
interpreted the banner message.

The only way I was able to kill the banner was force my computer to do a
reboot.

I can see this going over big in the corporate world as people's
computers start locking up with Microsoft's ransomware banner message
across the screen. Add to that being forced to shut down the computer
to kill the thing resulting in loosing anything they had in progress on
the computer before the ransomware banner popped up from Microsoft.

Come on Feds, is Microsoft in league with the CryptLocker people or just
plain stupid...

On 11/2/2013 7:41 PM, Bill wrote:
On Sat, 02 Nov 2013 22:21:10 +0100, s|b wrote:

On Sat, 2 Nov 2013 18:14:40 +0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

What is going on. I have a huge banner across the screen saying get win
8.1 for free.

A screenshot would have been nice. Are you sure it's Windows and not
some sort of malware?

As it killed the machine, I couldn't do a screenshot. On my 12.1" screen
it was blue about an inch high completely reaching from left to right.
Just had the wording and the one button.

I'm fairly certain it wasn't malware, but it hasn't appeared on the other
Win8 test machine I have here. Maybe I am the first of many, or maybe it
is related just to the particular edition that I have, "N".
I will add Malwarebytes tomorrow and check again with that.

If it appears on the other machine, I'll break out the camera.

Char Jackson wrote:

Bill wrote:

huge banner across the screen saying get win 8.1 for free.

I saw it on my machine a few days ago

Does it appear on the start screen, or on the desktop?

On Sun, 03 Nov 2013 06:26:45 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:

Bill wrote:

huge banner across the screen saying get win 8.1 for free.

I saw it on my machine a few days ago

Does it appear on the start screen, or on the desktop?

Both. Nothing works until you go to the App Store. The 3-finger salute
brings Task manager up and dumps you in the desktop, but behind the banner

On Sun, 03 Nov 2013 06:26:45 +0000, Andy Burns
wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:

Bill wrote:

huge banner across the screen saying get win 8.1 for free.

I saw it on my machine a few days ago

Does it appear on the start screen, or on the desktop?

I was working in desktop mode when it happened. The entire screen turned
blue except for the horizontal banner across the middle.

On Sun, 3 Nov 2013 11:56:38 +0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

On Sun, 03 Nov 2013 06:26:45 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:

Bill wrote:

huge banner across the screen saying get win 8.1 for free.

I saw it on my machine a few days ago

Does it appear on the start screen, or on the desktop?

Both. Nothing works until you go to the App Store. The 3-finger salute
brings Task manager up and dumps you in the desktop, but behind the banner

Did it actually take you to the app store? In my case, when I clicked on the
button, it simply dismissed the banner and the blue screen, returning me
back to the things I had been working on as if nothing had ever happened.

I don't have a Microsoft account configured, in case that matters.

On Sun, 03 Nov 2013 08:31:36 -0600, Char Jackson wrote:

On Sun, 3 Nov 2013 11:56:38 +0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

On Sun, 03 Nov 2013 06:26:45 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:

Bill wrote:

huge banner across the screen saying get win 8.1 for free.

I saw it on my machine a few days ago

Does it appear on the start screen, or on the desktop?

Both. Nothing works until you go to the App Store. The 3-finger salute
brings Task manager up and dumps you in the desktop, but behind the
banner

Did it actually take you to the app store? In my case, when I clicked on
the button, it simply dismissed the banner and the blue screen,
returning me back to the things I had been working on as if nothing had
ever happened.

I don't have a Microsoft account configured, in case that matters.

I'm afraid that I don't know. By this stage I was so annoyed that when I
got to the words "App Store" on a blank green screen, I invoked Task
Manager and killed it.

I was logged in with my Live ID at the time. ( one of the reasons the
person I referred to earlier has moved to a Mac was that when he used his
W8 tablet on the train, his email address was displayed on the screen in
big letters, and he didn't always find himself sitting next to a hot young
thing).

Bill wrote:

I was logged in with my Live ID at the time. ( one of the reasons the
person I referred to earlier has moved to a Mac was that when he used his
W8 tablet on the train, his email address was displayed on the screen in
big letters, and he didn't always find himself sitting next to a hot young
thing).

I guess the person didn't have the foresight to choose the correct seat.
Since now using a MAC, it's doubtful his ability has changed.

--
...winston
msft mvp consumer apps