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Windows 10 Upgrade Reportedly Starting Automatically On Windows 7 PCs (softpedia.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the do-you-want-the-following-program-to-make-changes-to-this-computer dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Many users have confirmed in the comment section of a popular reddit post that "Windows 7 computers are being reported as automatically starting the Windows 10 upgrade without permission." It's no secret that Microsoft wants users to upgrade to their new OS. Earlier in the year, Windows 10 was set as a 'recommended update' so when you install new security or bug patches, the new OS is selected by default as well. Terry Myerson, head of the OS group at Microsoft, warned users about the possibility of the OS automatically installing. "Depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device. Before the upgrade changes the OS of your device, you will be clearly prompted to choose whether or not to continue," he said. Whether or not the recent outcry is caused from users forgetting to deselect the Windows 10 upgrade in the update list or Microsoft updating Windows 7 PCs without users' permission, the good news is that you have 30 days to downgrade to the previous version of the OS.

10 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. Witnessed it personally by ArchieBunker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Showed up for work last Monday and saw one box had switched over even after telling the nag screens NO. I had to do the uninstall because we have software that does not work properly under 10. I can't recommend GWX Control Panel enough. It removes all signs of 10 and even the 4Gb of files it downloads without telling you.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  2. This is the newer, software Microsoft?! by surfdaddy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm running the GWX control panel so hopefully that will prevent this.
    I'm running Win10 on my secondary laptop and while it's nice, it doesn't add any features I find important, and I really don't like my OS becoming an advertising program. It nags me to buy the latest version of Office (which I don't need or want). Lord knows what else MS has in store in the future.
    I'm thinking that Linux desktop or a Mac are in my future once Win7 support runs out in a few years. I'm not going to be coerced into an ad program by Microsoft.

  3. As a win10 user I recommend by Snotnose · · Score: 4, Interesting

    you be sure to upgrade your machine back to Win 7/8 within that 30 day limit. Win10 is flakey, and getting flakier. Not talking about metro, the telemetry, the midnight reboots when your laptop is closed. I'm talking just weird little things that happen randomly, like you hit the back button in your browser and the browser minimizes to the task bar, or click 'Reply' in email and the window goes full screen. Never repeatable, never consistent, took me a couple weeks to decide that no, I wasn't hitting the wrong thing by mistake.

    Seems to get a little worse with every "update" they install.

  4. Thom Hartmann show live stream went down... by KaLeVR1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Thom Hartmann syndicated radio show got a rude introduction to Microsoft's new upgrade policy yesterday when their YouTube live stream server went offline and started upgrading while they were on the air. Thom Hartmann was freaking out and asking if listeners could help them switch to Ubuntu. They simulcast on terrestrial radio, Siriusxm, YouTube, and Free Speech TV. Hartmann was updating viewers on the upgrade completion percentage because viewers were complaining about losing their feed. He was livid but what can one do at that point?

    --
    Peace, K1
    1. Re:Thom Hartmann show live stream went down... by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Interesting

      if interrupted will result in lost work. But you seem to suggest that it is OK to auto-upgrade and lose work on a home PC ? Why - are home PC users not important ?

      Is that all? A friend of mine had $2000 of damage to his telescope as a result of a windows upgrade. He's a home user with a home hobby. Stupidly he had windows 7 set to automatically install updates. He had his telescope software set to a sequence to take photos on the east side of the sky, flip around when the object got to the meridian and keep imaging till it was on the west side until sunrise where it would park back to the normal position. Normal operation for an equatorial mount is that it drives in one direction to compensate for earth rotation until told otherwise by software. Well at 3am his computer went down for a windows update.

      When he woke he found a telescope with a camera that had hit the ground and had broken USB socket, broken power socket, broken glass on the CCD chamber, the tube on the telescope had bent and the motor in his mount had burnt out.

      Losing work may be the normal default, but there are some cases where home users do something a bit more advanced with their OS. It was actually a good test case, he's showing now that despite the prevalence of special purpose apps on Windows if you try hard enough you can actually do astro-imaging on Linux, which is something which until he had his mishap everyone put in the too hard basket.

  5. Re:EULA by rudy_wayne · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder what happens if you don't accept the end-user license agreement. Surely it must ask for acceptance before it does anything.

    I just read an article yesterday which recommended exact;y this as a way to deal with the problem. Just don't accept the EULA and Windows 10 won't be installed.

  6. Unconscionable Contract by ytene · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What Microsoft have done with the W7 to W10 upgrade is equivalent to taking your car into a dealership for a routine service, except that when you get it back, you find that it's been turned into a mobile advertising platform, it has the words "Taxi" painted down the side and, even better, Microsoft get the income from rides you are now required to give to advertisers... In legal terms that's an "unconscionable contract", meaning a deal that is *so* one-sided that it is unfair to one party and therefore unenforceable under the law. Microsoft are simply better that most of their users are too stupid to realise that they have become the product.

  7. Joke's on them by i+ate+my+neighbour · · Score: 3, Interesting

    C: drive in my Win partition is full. It refused to download even when I asked it to. Too stupid to work.

  8. Re:Will Someone Please! by JSG · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Will someone please sue these fuckers!"

    In the UK there is something called the Small Claims Court which is designed for, well, small claims. It costs very little to get into and involves magistrates (IIRC). The fees are here https://www.gov.uk/make-court-.... Lawyers are generally frowned upon as I recall because it is a form of arbitration between reasonable people.

    It might not sound very exciting but you claim for your costs for reinstating your system after it was broken. So if you do it yourself, you might price your time at say £20 per hour (reasonable) or you might hire outside help at say £30ph. It will take say five hours to find and copy all your data off to a USB disc that you had to buy at say £80 plus the two hours trip to town. Then you have to restore your system from source - let's say you still have a Windows restore partition - that will take a good two hours. Then you have to patch it - another five hours. Reinstall your apps - another five hours.

    So 5*20 + 80 + 2*20 + 2*20 + 5*20 + 5*20 = 17*20 + 80 = £420 minimum

    That's for someone who knows what they are doing and are being reasonable. For an IT duffer then the £30+ph is more likely because they will need professional help (receipts please).

    The whole point of this is that MS (if they really are pushing forced installs) will end up with some form of court judgment against them and you will get recompense. The SCC is not a get rich quick scheme. It is designed as an easy to use and cheap way of reclaiming monies. It has worked very well for me and some friends in the past. In one case the threat of SCC was enough to make a very, very large multi-national do the right thing because of the fact that the SCC is a serious court and a judgement against you can look a bit shit (especially when publicised.)

    Now, if after restoring your system it does yet another win 10 breakage then you can always do it all again. If a few 1000 people do this it could be interesting.

    I am making a big assumption here which is that you will probably have to persuade the magistrates that your system was broken by MS's automatic "update". You would have to make a formal claim to MS first requesting payment for your time. You would also have to demonstrate that they refused to comply.

    Worth a crack though

    Cheers
    Jon

  9. Re:Will Someone Please! by Cognitive+Dissident · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If enough of us ask nicely, or not so nicely, the FTC might sue them.

    Send your complaints about Microsoft's unfair and unethical behavior to: antitrust@ftc.gov

    This is the official address for reporting antitrust violations. I think trying to leverage the near universal presence of old versions of Windows on PCs worldwide to force acceptance of the new version qualifies as abuse of market position. The FTC might agree with enough public comment/complaint. People who have experienced the "involuntary upgrade" problem are likely to be especially influential. If you know anyone who has experienced this, pass that address along to them.