Skip to main content
To Customer Support To Customer Support
Today I helped a friend setup her new HP 14 in laptop that she purchased from Best Buy which was delivered to her house. My friend knows nothing about Windows or PCs.





Best Buy gave her a free Webroot Anti Virus with the price of $49.99. Now mind you I am an expert at installing Webroot on a computer. Right? Just look at my signature below. LOLS Well it happens that I have never run into a Windows OS running in S Mode. For the life of me I could not install Webroot after telling my friend Webroot is the best of all the rest. IMO..Best Buy gives her a keycode and it said on the box to go to webroot.com/safe. I go to install Webroot and Windows pops up with the Microsoft Store explaining to me that I am running Windows 10 S Mode. Which I find only programs from the Store are allowed for security/protection. So we called BB and they want us to bring the laptop back to the store to disable S Mode. btw: Best Buy is 45 minutes away! So we made an appointment for Wednesday.





So I just got back home and looked up online and found this.


https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4456067/windows-10-switch-out-of-s-mode





So I am posting this for others encase they have this issue installing Webroot with Windows 10 S Mode.





Learning all the time...@TripleHelix have any info on this?🤓
Thank you for the info Sherry, I wonder how many have had this problem.
You're welcome @Jasper_The_Rasper ,



I was just so upset that I'd never came across this issue before. You'd think that Best Buy would know what they are selling. My point is why give a free copy of Webroot if you can't use it on a new computer because it's running Windows 10 S Mode?



Oh well...
You're welcome @Jasper_The_Rasper ,



I was just so upset that I'd never came across this issue before. You'd think that Best Buy would know what they are selling. My point is why give a free copy of Webroot if you can't use it on a new computer because it's running Windows 10 S Mode?



Oh well...

It's the way the world is going, the people companies hire. Some employee's have no clue what's going on. Welcome to the future. ROFLMHO
@Ssherjj yes the S version of Windows 10 you can only get apps from the Microsoft Store!



This S Mode will essentially lock down any copy of Windows 10 so it can only run apps from the Microsoft Store, and does exactly what the dedicated Windows 10 S operating system was built to do.



https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/3/16968024/microsoft-windows-10-s-mode-editions-features
@Ssherjj yes the S version of Windows 10 you can only get apps from the Microsoft Store!



This S Mode will essentially lock down any copy of Windows 10 so it can only run apps from the Microsoft Store, and does exactly what the dedicated Windows 10 S operating system was built to do.



https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/3/16968024/microsoft-windows-10-s-mode-editions-features



Thank you Daniel! I read in the above article that one has to switch in a week out of S Mode or they'll be stuck with it. I still have to switch this for my friend. I found on YouTube how to do this easily enough. If she wants Windows Pro then that is an extra $50 and I am sure she will not want that. This HP is an Intel Core i3 that runs pretty fast especially with a SSD, (128GB).
This stinks about the 'S' mode. So will BB just convert it to Win 10 Home?



Another thing to think about with Win 10 Pro - ability to defer updates on your own schedule.



This has got to be what my brother gets annoyed about Win 10 Home. He got a Lenovo to replace the one he uses for his business. He deferred installation as much as Win 10 Home would allow and major update would install just as he was ending his day. He had to leave his laptop on at the office overnight.

Also, he uses business software for managing a database of patient images. When the vendor remotely was installing to help him install their software and restore from data backups, they balked since it wasn't Win 10 Pro which their software was "certified" and now required to run on. However, tech was nice enough to find the previous version of their software certified on the Win Home platform based on his use case and being a long term client.



-patrick
Yeah those Windows 10 updates are something else. I believe there's an option to upgrade from S to Windows 10 Home, a sort of one way ticket, but not 100% sure.
Yeah those Windows 10 updates are something else. I believe there's an option to upgrade from S to Windows 10 Home, a sort of one way ticket, but not 100% sure.



Hi Lara.



Yes it is a one way ticket where as you cannot go back to Windows 10 S Mode after upgrading to the Home version. Which I wouldn't mind one bit! 😁
Buy a Mac. You won't have to worry about those monthly patches / updates. LOL



I have to say - I hate this Windows S thing Microsoft is deploying. All it does is prevent people from harming their OS by disabling all but Windows Store Apps.



On another note:



I ran into a similar situation where a friend bought a laptop (also from Best Buy) but with no protection but Windows Defender. I told her I'd put Webroot on the laptop and she would be fine. Turns out that Webroot Secure Anywhere doesn't install on Snapdragon CPU driven laptops. See the OP below:



https://community.webroot.com/tech-talk-7/installing-webroot-on-windows-10-laptop-w-snapdragon-850-arm-cpu-340234



Is there or will there be a version made available that will work with the ARM achitecture so we won't be forced to solely use Windows Defender?



Thank you.
As far as I know there is no way to deploy an antivirus on a machine running Windows 10S.

Reply


Terms & Conditions