Microsoft is under fire from thousands of customers, who claim it is tricking them into downloading its new Windows 10. Some say it is just like unwanted malware, which downloads itself when you try to cancel it out.
Among them, a Blanchester, Ohio woman, who says Microsoft installed it despite her attempts to block it.
Didn't Want to Make Change
Things move slowly in the country. For Melinda Yates and her horses, the only change they like is a change in the wind.
So when she woke up the other morning, she was stunned to find her PC had a whole different look.
"The screen was bright blue, and it said Welcome to Windows 10, Melinda," she said. "I said no, no, no, no no! I didn't ask for this."
Overnight, her old Windows 7 PC had upgraded to new Windows 10, without her ever asking for it.
"I couldn't make it go away," she said. "I didn't want it, but I couldn't make it go away."
Yates had been turning down the upgrade requests, because the last time, she says, "when I upgraded from XP to Windows 7 I lost a lot of my files."
Report: Declining Update Very Tricky
But PC Worldmagazine says Microsoft recently made it much trickier to reject the upgrade.
PC World showed the typical popup people are seeing, with one box on the popup saying "Upgrade Now" and the other box saying "Start download, upgrade later."
No matter which of those two boxes you click, you've accepted it. "It's no choice, it's really no choice," Yates said, who believes by trying to decline the download, she accepted it.
- PC World says even hitting the "X"on the popup box is no guarantee any more.
Yates says she wanted 7 back, worried about all her personal files. She says it took a couple of hours, but she was able to reach someone on on the phone with Microsoft, who helped her roll her PC back to Windows 7.
Microsoft: No Reason to Worry
Microsoft says most people love 10 when they try it, and says anyone can roll back to Windows 7 after the upgrade, just like Yates did, by following its simple instructions.
But to Melinda Yates, it's just how they did it that still upsets her. "I don't like it," she said. I felt like I was held hostage in my own kitchen."
Microsoft claims the free upgrades will end in July, at which point it becomes a $100 upgrade. That means the popup boxes should disappear as well.
And Microsoft says people who like their Windows 7 will be able to keep their Windows 7 ... for now.
As always, don't waste your money.
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(Full disclosure: This reporter has Windows 10 on my work desktop PC, and I have had no problems with it, after the initial adjustment period)
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Don't Waste Your Money is a registered trademark of the EW Scripps Co.
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