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How to disable DropBox Update?
How do I prevent DropBox Update from booting on Windows (10 Pro) startup?
I've tried everything (see screenshots below spoilertag), but it will still boot, and I have to kill it manually every time...
schroumpf wrote:
I think tampering with a private (or company) computer without authorisation is called 'hacking' and I believ it is illegal.
When it's unauthorized, that's correct, but Dropbox updating itself is completely authorized. It's stated in the terms that it may update itself periodically. These are the terms that you agree to by using the software and service so, effectively, you authorized Dropbox to update itself as needed.
Dropbox should be brough to court for passed hacking activities and forced to stop this practice.
Dropbox hasn't "hacked" anything. A program self updating, even without user control/intervention, is not hacking. If you're a Windows 10 user then you experience the same thing with the forced Windows Updates. Is Microsoft hacking your computer as well?
We operate a radio station, which uses Dropbox to add files to the on-air automation. Sometimes Dropbox updates cause our radio station automation to freeze up, and we go off the air, losing revenue from ads that don't air. So, YES, it would make every sense to have Dropbox be update-able when we're watching the situation; manual updating when we need it, so that we know it's not taking us off the air. Dropbox is a great function for sending audio files, BUT, if it stops our broadcast, it's not so great. With manual update, we'd have to update it when it becomes non-functional anyway. But again, it wouldn't interfere with our source of income causing loss of listeners.
This does apply to other users, too. Maybe they don't have stations that are going off the air, but they do have deadlines, and other functions that are being interfered with. So a simple, and caring solution would be to offer a manual update option. You know as well as anyone that sometimes updates can even make mistakes, and need to be "Fixed" later. This way, some of the mistakes will not happen to some of the manual updaters, because by the time a manual update is done, you've already found the error.
Please, be honest, you want to have a kind of total control, but it's not really in the absolute best interest of the user, and his/her computer. How 'bout some sort of compromise, and just allow for manual update. The update would have to be made anyway to keep the functionality. Go ahead and remind folks about that in the lingo that is on the Dropbox website, and desktop dialog... that lack of updating may cause difficulty or loss of functionality. And then let people be adults :-)
Thank you for the fine service. By the way, we have to shut down Dropbox when we're not able to watch the automation, so i believe the updates aren't getting in possibly till we launch it again? So maybe that's a "Fix" for others. Not sure if this is true or not, but seems to be helping our situation.
One big problem with the autoupdates is that it keeps writing registry settings to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers . These settings push the dropbiox icons to the top of the icon list. So the dropbiox icons prevent the icons from TortosieGit being displayed. The dropbox icons have no value to me, but the TortoiseGit icons have real and important meaning for me. So every time dropbox updates it's software I have to go into the registry and delete their icons and then reboot. What a pain. Dropbox functionality is useful, but the update behaves like an insidious virus invisibly messing with my computers.
