In its zeal to get PC owners to upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft is resorting to some pretty underhanded tactics.
Customers report that they’re getting badgered with alerts prompting them to upgrade. The messages typically aren’t clear about how users can decline the update. And in some cases, consumers’ PCs are being upgraded to Windows 10 against their wishes.
Colin Seymour’s computer was one of them. When the freelance writer and editor turned on his eMachines PC a few weeks he ago, he found, to his astonishment, that it was running Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system instead of Windows 7.
Seymour, a 64-year-old San Jose resident, had previously seen numerous alert messages in Windows urging him to upgrade, but he’d repeatedly declined them. His computer was six years old and already having problems, and he worried Windows 10 would make them worse. That turned out not to be the case, but he’s still upset that Microsoft ignored his choice.
“It’s just the idea — they can do what they want and you can’t stop them,” he said.
Since Microsoft introduced Windows 10 last year, it has been pushing customers running older versions of the operating system to upgrade. Last summer it sneaked into Windows 7 and Windows 8 an update whose main purpose is to repeatedly generate pop-up notifications urging users to install Windows 10.
Since then, Microsoft has become ever more aggressive about pushing the new Windows version. It designated the upgrade to Windows 10 as a “recommended update,” rather than an optional one, which meant that many computers would download and attempt to install it automatically. It also changed the notifications boxes urging people to upgrade so that there was no readily apparent way to decline the upgrade; users could choose between “upgrade now” or “start download, upgrade later.” More recently, the company started treating a click on the “x” box typically used to dismiss messages and close windows as a user’s agreement to the upgrade.
There are ways to permanently disable the notifications and permanently opt out of the upgrade, but they involve diving deep into Windows’ settings or downloading additional software.
“It’s been slowly escalating,” said Michael Cherry, a senior analyst who focuses on operating systems for Directions on Microsoft, an independent advisory service for customers of the software giant. “They have made it harder to decline and (now) almost impossible to decline.”
In response to a request for comment about the Windows 10 upgrade push, a Microsoft representative emailed a statement from the company.
“The Windows 10 upgrade is a choice — designed to help people take advantage of the most secure, and most productive Windows,” the company stated. “We’re (going) to listen to customer feedback and evolve the upgrade experience based on their feedback.”
Microsoft has its reasons for pushing the upgrade. Maintaining older versions of its operating system is costly. The more customers Microsoft can lure to Windows 10, the more attractive the operating system will be for software developers whose apps can lure more people to Windows.
Meanwhile, Windows 10 is the first version of the software designed as a kind of service. Microsoft plans to continuously update the software in the background in the future — without users having to approve new updates — ensuring that all users will be on the latest version. That would make it easier for developers to write programs for the software and for Microsoft to maintain it.
“They really want customers to be on the latest version of Windows,” said Al Gillen, an analyst who focuses on Microsoft for tech research firm IDC.
And the company may feel like it’s doing customers a favor by promoting the upgrade. It’s offering Windows 10 as a free update to Windows 7 and 8 users until July 29, after which users will have to pay at least $120 to get it.
But many customers have legitimate reasons to be leery of the upgrade. Some programs haven’t been updated to support Windows 10. After upgrading their computers in the past, some users have found that the new versions of Windows have been incompatible with their older programs or peripherals like printers. And some customers just don’t see any benefit in upgrading to the new version or, like Seymour, are worried that their computers won’t be able to run it well.
And the tactics Microsoft is taking to promote this upgrade have more than a passing resemblance to malware.
Every five days or so for months now, Dan Wong, 40, of San Francisco, has been nagged by his PC to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Wong primarily uses the computer to maintain his archive of photos of his two kids, and didn’t want to run the risk that the upgrade might corrupt it. To block the update, he’s had to navigate confusing dialog boxes to schedule and then cancel the update — only to have to go through the same process again less than a week later.
“I get annoyed every time,” he said. “It doesn’t let you say never.”
Early last month, Pat, a retired postal worker from Clovis, was watching a webinar on the IRS website when her computer shut down all of her active programs and started updating to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1. This despite the fact that she had repeatedly declined the upgrade, because she’d heard bad things from friends about the software and was worried about the personal data Microsoft collects through it.
“I’ve got to tell you, it’s one scary thing,” said Pat, 74, who asked that her last name not be used because she was the victim of identity theft.
As I’ve written before, I generally like Windows 10. But customers have a right to stick with older versions. Microsoft ought to respect their choice instead of badgering and tricking them into upgrading. The company needs to knock this off.
Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-840-4285 or twolverton@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton or Twitter.com/troywolv.
