Putin33: It's a nag program. I was suspicious at first, skipping the first Windows Updates which the Knowledge Base didn't have any information on, but eventually let the program install after more information came out. The program doesn't do anything other than remind you that there is a free update available (which I don't mind since I do plan to update eventually). It is somewhat useful in that it checks your computer's hardware and software for possible compatibility issues.

That isn't really true. It will download the entire image without your permission. It is very invasive.

abgemacht: That's not quite true. You have to accept the terms and conditions of the update by 'scheduling' it before it can download everything. Granted, that isn't made very clear.

@ JECE: But there is no "I don't want this" option. The only options allowed by the "nag program" are:

1. Install Windwos 10 now
2. Install Windows 10 later

You have to select either 1 or 2 to get the dialog box off your screen, and if you do nothing for 60 minutes, the installation begins without your consent.

So you're pretty much forced to accept. There is no "I don't want it" option.

Jamiet99uk: Right, unclear and manipulative, but you then were presented with a page where you accepted the terms and conditions, which you accepted. You could have just x'd out of the dialog box, or canceled when presented with the terms and conditions page. Or you could have realized what was going on and canceled the process by canceling the 'scheduled update' before your computer went ahead with the update.

'scheduled update' before --> 'scheduled update' through the nag program before

Jamiet99uk: Maybe I'm talking about a different dialog box, which pops up periodically as long as you have the nag program installed. If you had said yes to that to 'schedule' your update (i. e., download the update) and accepted the terms and conditions, you effectively OK'd the update. I made that mistake and then went back into the nag program to cancel the process. If you didn't go back in to cancel the process, then you may have been presented with another dialog box to get the update going.

It's a confusing process. Windows Update may also update your operating system if you aren't careful. But Windows Update is even more confusing, because every time you update Windows 8.1 you are presented with a 'Updating to Windows 10' message whether or not your deselected the Windows 10 update from the list of available updates. Windows 10 will never actually install if you deselect the Windows 10 update, but if you are always presented with that message, then you may not notice if you forget to deselect the update at some point.

@ JECE: You're mistaken. There was no "cancel" option. There were exactly two options - upgrade now, or agree to upgrade later (at a specifically scheduled point).

What actually DID happen, I realise now, was that I clicked the X and closed the dialog, and the "update in 60 minutes" counter kept counting - hence my computer force-restarting and doing the update without my consent. I did not consent to the update.

Jamiet99uk: Well I didn't say there was a cancel option in any dialog box. You would have had to open the nag program to cancel.

But if you got those options, you must have agreed to 'schedule' your update beforehand.

This is some Grade-A Microsoft apologist behavior happening here.

@ JECE: No, I did not.

abgemacht: I'm just trying to explain/understand what happened here. I don't agree with the design of the nag program and have expressed several concerns above.

But sure, if you want an apology I'll give you one: Microsoft has a long history of getting bitten in the ass by users who complain about lack of functionality yet fail to ever update their software. For example, Internet Explorer was long-ago fixed and has for years now been comprobable to its competition. While Microsoft obviously messed up with the IE releases of a decade ago, the reputation of IE should have recovered by now. It hasn't because a huge chunk of Microsoft's user base doesn't know how to use Microsoft Update, which in turn infuriates website designers which still have to accommodate ancient IE releases. It's no surprise to me that Microsoft is killing Windows Update in Windows 10 and forcing users to accept regular updates. By extension, it's no surprise to me that Microsoft is aggressively pushing Windows 10 onto older operating systems. I don't like it, but I bet you that that is Microsoft's rationale behind this mess.

Didn't they also aggressively push Windows 8 on people, which turned out to be such a disaster that they've pretty much fired everybody on the Windows 8 team?

But then again this is same company that thought Windows 8 would be terrific despite all their testers telling them it was garbage.

The main advantage of Windows 8 over 7 was that it was quite a bit faster, especially when starting the computer.

Windows 10 combines the best features of 7 with 8. There quite a few bugs when it first came out, but most of them could be relatively easily dealt with by the user.

It make sense for Microsoft to encourage to people to upgrade. Operating systems need to evolve to keep up with ever improving hardware and software. And there are advantages to having a standard system, rather trying to make every program work with every OS.

If you don't want to upgrade you, you don't have to. It would however be better if MS made it easier to turn the nagging off with Windows 10, instead of it taking the user 10 minutes to google the instructions.

I don't recall Windows 8 being aggressively pushed however. There was nagging for Windows 7 users to upgrade to Window 8.

typo... There was *no nagging for Windows 7 users to upgrade to Window 8.

Right, Windows 8 was marketed heavily, but not pushed as far as I recall. I only ever used Windows 8.1 (most of of the concerns of Windows 8 were allayed when 8.1 was rolled out), but was pleased with the upgrade from Windows 7. I have no idea whether they fired everyone who worked on Windows 8, but there were certainly many reviewers and users that were happy with Windows 8.1. We're certainly not talking about a disaster.

You couldn't buy a machine that didn't automatically have Windows 8 on it. Which is why Windows 8 has tanked PC sales so badly that some PC manufacturs openly advertised having Windows 7 - > "back by popular demand".

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2496568/windows-pcs/windows-8-takes-blame-for--brutal--pc-sales-slide.html


http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/20/5326844/hp-brings-back-windows-7-by-popular-demand

You can still buy Windows 7, and I don't recall not being able to buy Windows 7. When I bought a new desktop PC about 18 months ago, I had the choice of Window 7 or Windows 8.

My last two work laptops (the most recent one was about three months ago) both had Window 7 instead of Windows 8.

Window 8 was off-putting to many people because it was too much of a departure from early Microsoft operating systems. But Microsoft was trying to figure out how to come up with an OS that would work with both touch computers (especially tablets) and non-touch devices. I think they have actually done quite well. The Surface Pro line has been quite successful. Certainly the best combination of of tablet and full PC in the one device.

By their own admission they haven't done well. By any metric they haven't done well. It was a bigger disaster for them than Vista. The fact that so many people still use XP speaks to just how much of a train wreck this company has been since Gates stepped down.

Well I wish the computer I bought had the option of not using 8 but it's even more problematic to put 7 on it. They have no option to forego the awful Metro interface. It was the default and they told everyone the reason why is because they wanted a system for the casual user rather than the power user. They wound up alienating both.

@Putin

To be fair, though, after spending the time and money to develop Win8, it's hard to expect them not to get new sales to use it over 7. Plus, there are legitimate technical reasons to stop supporting old OSes on new HW. Also, most enterprise class machines (Dell, Thinkpad, etc) did offer a WIN7 version for quite some time after the release of 8.

This is quite different from Win10, in which they are essentially infecting computers with adware through their OS update services.

Putin33: "They have no option to forego the awful Metro interface."
Um, I changed that as soon as I got my Windows 8 laptop. Every Desktop program that worked on my old Windows Vista/7 laptop worked on my new laptop. The Control Panel and every other 'power user' tool was still there for you to use. Did you ever give Windows 8.1 a try? You probably would have liked it.