Is the Windows 10 Upgrade Notification Malware?

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Is the Windows 10 Upgrade Notification Malware?

Like This Blog 12 Mike Danseglio
Added by June 3, 2015

If you’re running Windows Vista, 7, 8, or 8.1 you have most likely started to see a strange icon in your system tray. It looks like a little white Windows flag as shown in Figure 1.

001-Windows-10-Upgrade-Notification

Figure 1. Get Windows 10.

The hover text says Get Windows 10. When you right-click it you get the context menu shown in Figure 2.

002-Get-Windows-10-Upgrade-Notification

Figure 2. Is this malware?

The options on the context menu include:

  • Get Windows 10
  • Reserve your free upgrade
  • Go to Windows Update
  • Get to know Windows 10

If you primary-click on the icon you see a screen like Figure 3 that explains how the free upgrade works.

003-Instructions-for-Windows-10-Upgrade

So is this malware?

Nope, this isn’t malware. This is Microsoft announcing that Windows 10 is available beginning July 29th and that they want you to upgrade to Windows 10. It’s a real Microsoft announcement, not an adware application or some type of malware.

How can I be sure? The executable that launches both the tray icon and the windowed application is GWXUX.exe. That file was installed in a recent Windows Update for Windows Vista and later and is digitally signed by Microsoft Corporation. So it’s authentic, it comes from Redmond, and is not doing anything else to your system.

Enjoy!

Mike Danseglio -CISSP / MCSE / CEH
Interface Technical Training – Technical Director and Instructor

 

For more Windows 10 articles, see the following posts from Interface Technical Training:

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