Microsoft has been ordered to pay a California woman US$10,000 after her computer spontaneously upgraded to Windows 10.
"I had never heard of Windows 10," travel agent Teri Goldstein told the Seattle Times. "Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update."
She took the case to court, saying Windows 10 slowed her machine to a crawl and would often crash. Microsoft denied any wrongdoing, but last week decided to pay up US$10,000 rather than keep paying for lawyers to fight her.
It's probably no coincidence that days later, it's changed how users of Windows 7 and 8 are upgraded. Previously, the newer version of the operating system would download in the background, then tell the user it was ready -- but closing the pop-up window didn't decline the offer, instead triggering the upgrade.
Ms Goldstein wasn't the only one caught out -- thousands have complained online about being forced to upgrade. A computer belonging to one disgruntled customer, working in the African bush fighting animal poaching, downloaded the 6GB upgrade via satellite internet - costing them several thousand dollars. *** LINK ***
Microsoft has now changed the pop-up, making the option to decline the upgrade easy to see, and closing the pop-up window no longer triggers the installation.
There are about 300 million computers currently running Windows 10, with Microsoft's goal 1 billion by mid-2018. It's free until July 29.
Newshub.
