Class Action Lawsuit Launched Over Forced Windows 10 Upgrades (courthousenews.com)

Slashdot reader AmiMoJo quotes The Register: Three people in Illinois have filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming that its Windows 10 update destroyed their data and damaged their computers. The complaint, filed in Chicago's U.S. District Court on Thursday, charges that Microsoft Windows 10 [installer] is a defective product, and that its maker failed to provide adequate warning about the potential risks posed by Windows 10 installation -- specifically system stability and data loss... The attorneys representing the trio are seeking to have the case certified as a class action that includes every person in the U.S. who upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and suffered data loss or damage to software or hardware within 30 days of installation. They claim there are hundreds or thousands of affected individuals.
Microsoft responded that they'd offered free customer service and other support options for "the upgrade experience," adding "We believe the plaintiffs' claims are without merit." But the complaint argues Windows 10's installer "does not check the condition of the PC and whether or not the hard drive can withstand the stress of the Windows 10 installation," according to Courthouse News, which adds that the lead plaintiff "says her hard drive failed after Windows 10 installed without her express approval, and she had to buy a new computer."

Comments

Wouldn't they have to show damages?

[rsilvergun]

The Win 10 uninstall was pretty painless. This smacks of a bunch of lawyers ready to get a nice big payout anyway. It's exactly the sort of thing a class action shouldn't be granted for.

Re:suure

[rakslice]

At the very least, whatever sketchy consultant or low rent big box store nerd herd operation sold this lady a new computer instead of a replacement hard drive would be wise to get their legal contingency fund sorted out before it becomes established in a court of law that that was a mistake...

No sympathy for Microsoft here

[Snotnose]

Why did I upgrade from Win8.1 to Win10? I was doing something and clicked a window, but the window changed from "do you want to do this thing you want to do" to "do you want to upgrade to Win10". It was my only computer, I couldn't google to see the ramifications of aborting the "upgrade", so I let it "upgrade"

Chillen, don't run win10. It may be the most secure, for various definitions of secure (e.g. telemetry), but it sure as shit ain't the most stable. Worst of all, M$ will decide when your machine reboots. They don't need for you to say "um, yep, this is a good time to reboot", nor "um, no, give me time to save my files and shutdown". Nope, you will close your laptop, go to bed, and wake up to a rebooted system.

FUCK THAT SHIT

Re:suure

[Lordpidey]

For people who don't know how to reinstall an OS, it's a daunting task. Especially on laptops, where you need to worry about drivers. Because of that, many users are limited to asking for help from a tech support company, such as geek squad or similar... and that can cost a couple hundred dollars. Almost the price of a new computer.

Re:Wow

[StormReaver]

I haven't seen a Windows upgrade (note: UPGRADE) destroy data in a meaningful way in.....I don't even know how long.

The Windows 7 -> Windows 10 upgrade made one of my customer's computers unable to do anything but an infinite reboot cycle. At that point, though, he finally gave it and paid me to install Kubuntu on his computer. Before that, he was very much opposed to replacing Windows with Linux. Now he says his computer works better than it ever has.

And now tech support, as always happens with my Windows to Linux migrations, has changed from, "I was doing [something innocuous], and suddenly [fill in malicious Windows behavior]" to, "Can you come in periodically for routine maintenance? No, everything's fine. We just like knowing you're still available, and we'll pay you for your time."

Re:Wow

[dknj]

I hate to burst your bubble, but I wonder if I may be part of this class action. I had a laptop that was Windows 7 for the longest time. It decided to upgrade itself to Windows 10. Cool. For about a month then my laptop refused to boot windows again. I can boot to a usb stick but not to any other partition on the HD. It is very possible that EFI went corrupt after an upgrade. I tried to recover the system and ended up losing all my data. Also, I could not reinstall Windows 7 or 10 ever again. My laptop is effectively bricked.

I honestly would be saying the same thing that you did IF I hadn't experienced the same issue that lady who had to buy a new one did. Because I am an expert, I know I can install a new OS. But the fact that I cannot reinstall Windows (first reboot puts the system into a hung state) is telling. I also had to buy a new laptop because I need Microsoft products to do my job. It's not like I had time to send it in for warranty repair and twiddle my thumbs while they send me a new laptop. Plus that laptop was an i7-2600k. It wasn't a slouch, I still played CS:GO and BF4 on it up until it decided to not turn on again -- I didn't want a new laptop, I NEEDED it.. So it's entirely plausible and now I am going to resurrect that machine and maybe consider joining in on this adventure.

-dk

Re:benefit for attorney?

[Mitreya]

consumer would get a $10 coupon to the Microsoft marketplace and the attorneys would earn $3 million.

I understand why attorneys do it, but why do the judges approve the "Here's a $10 coupon that costs us nothing and requires you to buy something for $50 from us (in which case we'll earn $30 on this transaction)" settlement?

Different class action lawsuit

[craXORjack]

I'd like to see a class action lawsuit addressing the Windows 10 keylogger. After seeing that article I went in on my system to make sure it was not enabled and found that it was. Yet I know for a fact that I declined every option during the windows 10 install that offered to gather information on the pretense of making my experience better. I read each one very carefully and surprised myself by turning all of it off. So how did a privacy option get flipped so that Microsoft was keylogging me? I'd like to see about 10 million users sue them for that very legit complaint.

Re:Wow

[hairyfeet]

1.- Wow...I can tell you haven't had much experience with NTFS, have you? Protip...it really isn't hard to corrupt the MFT and index on NTFS, especially if you don't do a SFC before doing major operations...wanna guess what Windows 10 did NOT do before upgrading?

2.- Damaged their computers? I can assure you that is a YES because if you computer is rendered unusable, as were many PCs that were caught in the endless reboot bug? Then it might as well be bricked for all Joe and Sally Average are gonna be able to do about it. Oh and lets not forget MSFT forced driver upgrades and both AMD and Nvidia have had driver releases in the past year that could damage hardware, if MSFT forced those drivers on to her system? yeah it could cook hardware.

3.- Damaged her hard drive? See #1. MSFT frankly made the most piss poor upgrade compatibility checker I have EVAR seen with Win 10, in fact I had several systems at the shop where their upgrade checker said "Oh sure its totally compatible!" only to find MSFT's idea of "compatible" meant no graphics, no sound, and no networking. If she had damaged sectors on her drive Windows 10 wouldn't bother to even run SFC or even check SMART before slamming the drive so yeah it could easily kill it.

4.- Having to replace her PC? Well there is the fact MSFT hasn't forced OEMs to provide discs since WinXP which means she had no media to install from even if she had the skill to do a HDD replacement (most wouldn't have a clue how to) and if the only repair shop in her area was something like Geek Squad? Well the cost of a HDD replacement and OS install would probably cost her more than the system was worth, if hers is anything like the local GS she'd be looking at over $200.

So I'm sorry but everything listed checks, and moreover I can back up her claims as I too had several systems lose files because of Win 10 not bothering to do any checks before upgrading (oh and in the case of 2 boxes never even asking me before they started upgrading as they were 2 of them affected by MSFT changing the red X from meaning no to meaning yes) and lucky for me they were just shop boxes and didn't have any files I gave a shit about but with their shitty upgrade installer? I could have easily lost crucial documents or pictures so I really do not doubt she got screwed by Win 10, its Vista levels of bad.