Microsoft Has To Pay Woman $10,000 For Sneaky Windows 10 Upgrade

[davidm]

@Spiderman

If someone didn’t agree to take the upgrade there’s no way they could have agreed to the terms; I don’t see how an arbitration-only clause would stick.

There could be a clause in previous Windows versions that protects them from problems caused by updates.

[Nava]

@davidm

Good point.

It may also be that, of the people who didn’t want it, the ones who aren’t very technically savvy were the ones most likely to be tricked into upgrading to it anyway and the ones most ill equipped too deal with any glitches that occurred and therefore ended up talking about it online.

Many of the least savvy people won’t talk about it where you can hear it; their children will, OTOH. And again, it’s not even just about “tricked”, it’s about saying NO and Microsoft saying “ooooh but you know you want it!”

[Critical1]

Linux! the latest upgrade from windows whatever you are running, It doesn’t track what you are doing, it secure as hell, and will run whatever version of windows you actually like in a secure emulator that doesn’t report back to microsoft.

I learned all of these things because I am tired of seeing the windows 10 update bs and have zero interest in yet another bit of software that will make all its money selling your habits to marketers.

[davidm]

@Critical1

Linux! the latest upgrade from windows whatever you are running, It doesn’t track what you are doing, it secure as hell, and will run whatever version of windows you actually like in a secure emulator that doesn’t report back to microsoft.

I learned all of these things because I am tired of seeing the windows 10 update bs and have zero interest in yet another bit of software that will make all its money selling your habits to marketers.

Are you certain about it not reporting back to Microsoft? If it’s truly a Windows environment and has internet access then, unless it’s intentionally blocking access to and from Microsoft servers then how would it not report back?

[davidm]

Here’s an example of the kinds of tactics they use. This morning Windows Updates informed me that there was an optional update available. The description of the update was the typical generic zero information description along with a link for more information. When I clicked the link I was taken to a page that talked about how the free upgrade period is ending on July 29 and showed an image of what it describes as a “full-screen notification” which presumably is what the update would cause to be shown. The background color is similar to the infamous BSOD.

This notification has 3 ways to dismiss it. The first two, “Upgrade Now” and “Remind me later”, are obvious, easily visible, buttons on the bottom right. The other two options, “Notify me three more times” and “Do not notify me again” are non-button text on the bottom left and their color is very close to that of the background, making it easy to miss them.

Scroll down to see the image of the screen.

Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1 end of free upgrade offer notification -...

[Bryan_Ekers]

Reported, with some hesitation.

[D_Odds]

@Bryan_Ekers

Reported, with some hesitation.

Good call. It’s an affiliate marketing website, and while I have no problems with affiliate marketing, new users trying to drive traffic have no place on SDMB.