thanks for the advice! I'm including your instructions here in bold with my actions/observations in italics:
Take Windows Update off automatic -- Never check - was already set to Never Check
Task Manager, processes, find and end GWX.exe - was not running; I checked "show processes from all users" and it wasn't there either
Control Panel, Uninstall a program, View installed updates, WAIT a long time till you see the green bar completes its long trip to the right
Now, search for KB3035583, uninstall it - it wasn't installed
Restart the PC - no need at this point because I hadn't made any changes
Disk cleanup, do the 2nd step for System -- this takes a while
You should find a file there that is anywhere from 4 to 8 Gigabytes. It is the Win10
downloaded file. Put a check mark on that item. - 226 mb total (89.7mb temp internet,
temporary files 136mb, everything else was small)
OK, Delete Files - done!
Restart - done!
The startup will take a long time while it finishes cleanup - startup seemed like normal duration
I assume the next step is to rerun WIndows Update and to check for updates. Found 22 important and 5 optional updates. I unselected everything. There was no sign of Windows 10 orKB3035583 because I had previously hidden them.
In Restore hidden updates, I found both "Upgrade to Windows 10 Home" and
KB3035583 - both not selected.
So I returned to the Important Updates list and only selected one random update (KB3046017) as a test. But when I tried to install that update, I immediately see "Downloading Windows 10" so I cancel Windows Update. :-(
Is there any way I could allow Windows Update to do it's thing with Windows 10 and then bail on the installation after Windows Update "thinks" it's complete?
Any other thoughts? There are two user accounts on this machine and both have admin access but I'm assuming they're seeing the same updates, and any WU changes I make via one account applies to the other account as well. (I do know that running Windows Update via either account results in the Windows 10 download)