Forced Windows 8.1 Update

This morning a blue banner appeared on my screen asking me when I wanted to restart my computer to continue to download the update to Win 8.1 (I have Windows 8).  At no time did I start the download process.  I selected "Remind me later" from the drop down.   A few minutes later, the download started, and the drop down only allowed me to select a time period to restart my computer (Now, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours)!.  I was committed, and I never authorized this!  So I selected "Now" just to see what would happen.  I went to the Windows Store and lo and behold the update was downloading.  The update failed (I got an error 0xC1900101).  I disabled the update notification reminder using regedit (I was sick of seeing it every time I powered down my computer anyway)-but how could this happen?  This looked like a legitimate Windows notification.

Got screwed yesterday. The update didn't fail for me but I still didn't like the process. I had reverted back to 8 after issues with 8.1 update 2. After six months on 8, I wasn't sure if I wanted to upgrade (I hate all the visual help created in metro apps, how win+Q is dead now etc) even though I kind of had to to enjoy some apps.

It's disappointing to see that issues I had earlier this year with 8.1 (USB drive aggressively going to sleep, blurry desktop icons, weird slow sync problems) are still here while the update kills some customization set before the update like autohotkey scripts. I mean you're lucky I know how to deal with that quickly but that's infuriating, Microsoft.

I get the "everybody should have the same under the hood capabilities" angle but please don't change the UX so much when someone is happy with what you did before. Do not change their personal preferences like you know better than them. You can't go "we saw that most people like it this way so here, we're forcing it upon you" that will never make people who know what they're doing and don't ask for nothing, happy.

I'll see how it goes. I might revert back to 8 again.

By January 2016 everyone will be running Windows 10.

It would seem that with Windows 10 only months away they could let people alone until then.

Don't need any info from the windowsupdate.log.

If you'd like to pursue this further, please begin your own, new thread in an appropriate forum so we can delve into the details. Once you've done so, reply to this post & give me a link to your thread. THX

None of those updates have been installed and I have never refreshed or reset the system.

Trying to find more info in the WindowsUpdate.log

How about KB2885699, KB2917499 and/or KB2871777? [1]

Have you ever done a Refresh or a Reset?

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[1] The updates I'm asking about are Win8.1 prerequisites. Kinda hard to believe that Win8.1 "automatically" installed if the prerequisite updates haven't been installed.