Windows 7 users complain of unprovoked Windows 10 auto-upgrades
Microsoft’s Windows 10 upgrade push is in full swing, though users say
they never got the memo.
Jared Newman | @onejarednewman
PCWorld - Mar 14, 2016 9:23 AM
As Microsoft auto-upgrades more PCs to Windows 10, some users are
complaining that they weren’t adequately notified.
Reports of unwanted Windows 10 upgrades have been circulating for the
past few days on Reddit and Twitter, after the last Patch Tuesday. These
users say they never approved or initiated the upgrade, and were dragged
away from their Windows 7 (or perhaps Windows 8) installs anyway.
This is all part of Microsoft’s plan, of course. Last October, the
company announced that it would reclassify Windows 10 as a “Recommended”
update from older versions starting in early 2016, at which point many
more users would get the upgrade without explicit permission. That
reclassification began on February 1, and auto-upgrades have been
rolling out ever since. If complaints are reaching a higher volume now,
perhaps it’s because the rollout is getting more aggressive.
Here’s what the Recommended update looks like, according to ZDNet’s Mary
Jo Foley: First, users will receive a notification saying their PCs are
scheduled to receive Windows 10 in the next three or four days. Users
can click a small link to cancel or postpone the update, but simply
closing the window will cause the notification to appear again one hour
before the scheduled update time. If users don’t cancel or postpone
within that timeframe, the update will begin automatically.
At that point, the only way to back out of the Windows 10 update is to
“Decline” the End User License Agreement that appears during the
installation. This will cause the system to roll back to the previous
Windows version (though this is a somewhat time-consuming process).
For users who haven’t upgraded yet, it’s possible to avoid installing
Windows 10 by heading to Windows Update in the Control Panel, and
unchecking the box under Recommended updates, which reads “Give me
recommended updates the same way I receive important updates.” A
registry tweak can help prevent Microsoft from sending upgrade reminders
in the future.
The impact on you at home: Unless you’re a regular reader of PC-centric
news sites, you may not have realized that Microsoft would upgrade PCs
to Windows 10 automatically. Although Microsoft claims that users are
fully in control of the process, the sudden confusion from users
indicates that the company either failed or didn’t care to give users
enough of a heads up. There’s a lot to like in Windows 10, but the way
Microsoft is delivering it leaves much to be desired.
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Duane Whittingham - N9SSN - Fort Mitchell, KY
(ARES/RACES, EmComm, Skywarn & Red Cross)
http://www.radiodude.info
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