Microsoft Backtracks On 'Nasty Trick' Upgrade To Windows 10 (bbc.co.uk)

Reader Raging Bool writes: Days after angering many users with its so-called "nasty trick", Microsoft has reversed its crazy decision to infuriate users by upgrading them to Windows 10 automatically. Users were angry that clicking the cross to dismiss the box meant that they had agreed to the upgrade. Based on "customer feedback", Microsoft said it would add another notification that provided customers with "an additional opportunity for cancelling the upgrade". Microsoft told the BBC it had modified the pop-up as a result of criticism: "We've added another notification that confirms the time of the scheduled upgrade and provides the customer an additional opportunity for cancelling or rescheduling the upgrade. If the customer wishes to continue with their upgrade at the designated time, they can click 'OK' or close the notifications with no further action needed."

Comments

Malware trick

[Anonymous Coward]

A typical malware trick, make the close button install the stuff.

Criminals.

Re:Malware trick

[wkwilley2]

Almost seems like they were betting on the vetted response for popups, which is to hit the X immediately after it pops up.

Re:Malware trick

[NatasRevol]

That no matter what they do, Microsoft will try to screw them?

Re:Malware trick

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no way a 9-year-old should be on an Internet connected PC unsupervised, anymore than they should be in a big city on their own.

You can easily roll back to your old OS. Google rollback win 10 install.

Re:Malware trick

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

It's like a notification that pops up that says "you have new email". You wouldn't expect the system to delete your email if you click on the 'x' to close the notification, would you? Of course not.

I also wouldn't expect the e-mail client I've been happily using for years to one day automatically schedule an update that reorganised its whole UI, started randomly cancelling e-mails I was in the middle of writing to reload itself every now and then, started quietly forwarding my mails to some unknown third party, and corrupted 25% of my saved mail if I tried to back the update out, and then just pop up a random notice not even asking for my active consent to go ahead but just telling me how I'm going to be screwed unless I click the tiny text hidden in the middle of the dialog instead of any of the controls I've been using for those past few years.

Re:Malware trick

[Darinbob]

Nonsense. Why technically clicking cancel did not cause the install (which was pre-scheduled), the effect ws intended to be the same. By having a big button that lets up upgrade immediately they trick people into thinking that anything else stops the upgrade. Once you see the notification, the upgrade is *already* scheduled and *will* happen unless you take action to prevent it. This makes even very smart people able to make mistakes. It is easy to mistake this for yet another Windows 10 advertisement and unless you read and understand every word in the notification you can easily be misled.

Let's make this clear: You will automatically be upgraded to Windows 10 if you do nothing, you will automatically be upgraded if you ignore that notification, you will automatically be upgraded if you reboot your computer. The only way to stop the upgrade is to OPT OUT.

There are three buttons on that notifier, but you only see two. Two buttons are in standard Windows notifier style, the third is in Metro style and is a single word in a small font colored blue, and that third easily overlooked "button" is what must be pressed to cancel the scheduled upgrade.

This current turn around is false. They say "If the customer wishes to continue with their upgrade at the designated time, they can click 'OK' or close the notifications with no further action needed." This is the same behavior as the notification people are complaining about! If you close this second-chance notification by clicking on "x" then it will still install Windows 10 according to the schedule! Theyve given no hints that they will make the second-chance notification be clearer and less ambiguous than the first notification! And they've got the journalists duped as they're reporting a Microsoft "backtrack" when they're still going full speed ahead into the iceberg.

Re:Malware trick

[Darinbob]

The notification will install Windows whether or not you have administrative privilege. That notification basically says that you WILL be upgraded unless you take active steps to stop it, administrator or not. Windows is scheduled to be installed and it will install even if you do nothing at all! This will happen even with a guest user account! Though I suspect you do need administrative privilege to cancel the upgrade...

You're still stuck in the mode of thinking that Microsoft is doing everything properly, or that only idiots can misunderstand a notification designed to fool people, or naively assuming that Windows would never upgrade itself without opt-in permission.

Re:Malware trick

[Darinbob]

Actually that "X" is legitimate. It does exactly what any "X" does and closes the notification. The snag is that Windows 10 upgrade is already scheduled to happen even if you do nothing and click on nothing! The way to stop it is to click on the "here" in the sentence "Click here to change upgrade schedule or cancel scheduled upgrade." In other words you have to click on something that is not a button.

The "X" button is probably the only innocent thing in that notification.

Re:Malware trick

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

I'm sorry, but you are defending the indefensible. If Microsoft were being as reasonable and transparent as you suggest, it wouldn't be literally front page news that they've upset so many people who were surprised at what happened, didn't want it, and in particular explicitly thought they hadn't agreed to it.

The behaviour we're talking about, installing recommended updates automatically, is the default. It's what someone gets if they don't know to actively change it. If someone didn't install Windows 7 themselves but instead bought a PC with Windows pre-installed, it's unreasonable to assume that they would have any idea there was even anything to change. And for about a decade, the default policy was sensible, because it meant users who didn't know these things still received important security and stability fixes.

Suddenly making an entire new OS (let's not insult anyone's intelligence by pretending it's anything like a normal Windows 7 upgrade, please) recommended is a drastic change in the expected behaviour.

Turning back on various updates that users have explicitly and actively declined previously is a drastic change in behaviour.

Bundling nag messages about the update within otherwise unrelated security updates is a drastic change in behaviour.

You can dress it up however you want, but the end result is still the same: users are being tricked into upgrading, and many of them very clearly didn't want to be and didn't intend to make the choice you blame them for. Microsoft's reputation isn't going to do any better because of the dubious technicalities you're basing your argument on. If this winds up in a court, it's unlikely those types of argument will do them much good either.

Re:Malware trick

[wierd_w]

Yup. Paid close attention to the dialog last night.

My shiny new SSD arrived from Amazon for my upstairs gaming PC, so I decided it would be a good time to do a fresh reinstall.

Did the base install, installed SP1, installed IE11 (Because so much shit wants IE for who knows what gods awful reason), installed security essentials, did the "takes forever and uses lots of ram to check updates" manual update, did the convenience rollup, then checked for updates.

Yup, GWX showed up in an even nastier form than before. It told me proudly that I was scheduled to upgrade on saturday at 11:00am. THERE WAS NO CANCEL BUTTON. I dug through the settings and menu choices. There was no option to cancel the upgrade. The window was just a notification that it had set up the hidden automated task, and when it would happen.

I had to install GWX control panel and use THAT to cancel the update, and remove the GWX components.

From the sound of the summary, microsoft still has "upgrade by default! We KNOW you secretly want it!" as the default, and closing the notification does not cancel the upgrade. They have just begrudgingly added a cancel button, in the disused settings menu, behind a sign that says "beware of the leopard."

It's almost like they simply refuse to accept that what is angering their customers is the "upgrade by default!" behavior, and are acting confused why people dont want to switch.

"an additional opportunity"

[mrchaotica]

Microsoft says they'll give "an additional opportunity for cancelling the upgrade" -- because respecting the user's choice the first (or second, or fifth, or 20th) time clearly isn't considered by those assholes to be an option!

Next Try

[PPH]

A popup with an "Upgrade to Windows 10 now? [ ]Yes [ ]No" message.
Where the "[ ] No" checkbox is animated and keeps running away from the mouse.

It's not a nasty trick

[Dunbal]

Let's call it what it is: FRAUD. The "X" symbol in the top right corner of a window has been used to close a window since windows has existed. Therefore there's a pretty clear precedent established that when a user clicks there, he means to close the window. Changing the meaning of this symbol and causing it to do something completely opposite to what is intended without prior notice is a completely deceptive practice. Microsoft should be ashamed. Microsoft might also be liable. After all, any EULA for the current OS cannot cover or hide DECEPTIVE PRACTICES BY MICROSOFT. And of course you can't be held under any Windows 10 EULA since you quite obviously chose the "X" to not install it. So I hope these fraudulent installs trashed or tied up some important machines and lawyers are getting ready to take them to court. It's no less than they deserve for stooping to the level of scam internet pop-up ads.

And yet

[JohnFen]

And yet, I still hear people saying things like "Microsoft has changed", "Microsoft isn't evil anymore", or even "Microsoft is a good guy now".

How many times does Microsoft have to demonstrate that they're still the same old Microsoft before people stop believing this nonsense?

Re:Why do people getting so stupid about this?

[OzPeter]

Seriously two simple solutions, either A) Google Aegis Script Windows 7

How the hell do I know to google something that I have never heard of before? (Seriously .. I just had to google it to find out what you mentioned)

or B) Format and install Linux.

This trope has to die. There are many applications that are windows only and will never ever in a million years have a FOSS equivalent, and there just as many exceptions to "just run wine".

And running VM's instead means that you have to be a Linux admin as well as a windows admin.

Lesson Number Two in MBA school

[ThatsNotPudding]

"Better to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission."



Lesson Number One is "Steal, rob, and lie at will."

There are no other lessons. Here's your MBA.

"User's choice"

[The MAZZTer]

I think the problem is users are confusing the dialog for a typical multiple-choice decision dialog. It's common to click the close button when you're not sure since that typically selects the "safe" option. But the close button does not always do this, it depends on the type of window. If I close Outlook, I expect it to still have all my e-mails when I open it up again; if I find it cancelled my account I would be upset. In that case, clicking close is assumed to mean that the user does not want any changes to happen to their e-mail; they are done with it for now.

Microsoft was a bit overzealous in scheduling upgrades for users. The dialog that shows up is NOT a decision dialog; the decision was already made by Microsoft! It was an informational dialog to notify you of the decision (and gives you an apparently difficult-to-find control to change this decision). Informational dialogs, by definition, do nothing when you close them; the upgrade would have been kept and that was perfectly in line with the standard for Windows UX. Unfortunately it also proved to be confusing, but I don't think it was malicious. Clearly Microsoft needed to change it since it was confusing users, and they are doing so.

Windows Update works the same way. If you start an update and close the window, the update does not stop. Instead it continues running in the background, since it is an important (to Microsoft) process. So it's understandable a similar process, the upgrade, would be designed to work in a similar way. Like I said, actual user experience now shows it was confusing so it's good MS is changing it.

Re:How is Linux any better?

[DNS-and-BIND]

The difference is that you freely chose to do so, nobody tricked you into doing it with a misleading dialog box. This is so well-written and wrapped up nicely with a bow, it sounds just like a Microsoft social media consultant (i.e. paid shill). If you're not a paid shill, you should look into that line of work because nobody should be writing posts like yours for free.

Re:Duh

[Killall -9 Bash]

I don't mind windows, or any other brand, having a add supported version. My problem is that you walk into best buy, purchase windows 10 for $170, and you get the same experience as the guy who paid nothing.

You don't have the option of purchasing a non-douchy version of windows 10. So instead, I will be running windows 7 SP1, with updates turned OFF for the foreseeable future.

How many times do I have to tell Microsoft...

[QuietLagoon]

from TFA: Based on "customer feedback", Microsoft said it would add another notification that provided customers with "an additional opportunity for cancelling the upgrade".

How many friggin' times do I have to tell Microsoft that I DO NOT WANT WINDOWS 10 ON MY PCs?

.
If Microsoft is this tone deaf about my desires now, what would it be like when/if I ever decide to upgrade to Windows 10, what will I lose control of then?

Re:It took the BBC to do this?

[Darinbob]

No, if you look closely there is no apology or backtracking. They are offering a second chance notification that will probably do exactly the same thing.

"If the customer wishes to continue with their upgrade at the designated time, they can click 'OK' or close the notifications with no further action needed."

In other words, if you close the notification then you'll be upgraded to Windows 10. No where have they said that they'll make it easier to opt out, and the statement above means that they will not go to an opt-in process and are still relying on the strategy of fooling the users.