Woman is awarded $10k following unwanted Windows 10 upgrade

[HEXUS]

She didn't initiate the upgrade and it made her business PC crash prone and unusable.

Read more.

[excalibur1814]

Utter <READ OUR RULES ON SWEARING - Admin>. Time and time again the user IS notified (Wait for the post below this one screaming that they weren't). This is madness. Now that they have this cash they can quickly install WSUS.

"but I've read of many others having issues with the new OS, application compatibility, and hardware compatibility, for example."

Just as you've read the same things with Windows 8.1, 8, Vista, 7, 2000, ME etc.

[Attila the Bun]

I have a neighbour that had a similar situation to this although she didn't claim she had no knowledge of Win10 just that she didn't want it. She said that the install kicked itself of while she was working and then hung half way through the process. This is when she called me. Following a bit of research and faff we managed to get the Win10 removal process running, this also hung. In the end she had to do a clean install of Win7, fortunately, she does daily backups so the damage was minimal. Once installed I showed her how to disable auto-updates and remove the Win10 notification icon from the desktop. She swears that at no time did she request the new OS and I have no reason to doubt her.

[azrael-]

Utter <READ OUR RULES ON SWEARING - Admin>. Time and time again the user IS notified (Wait for the post below this one screaming that they weren't). This is madness. Now that they have this cash they can quickly install WSUS.

"but I've read of many others having issues with the new OS, application compatibility, and hardware compatibility, for example."

Just as you've read the same things with Windows 8.1, 8, Vista, 7, 2000, ME etc.

Except a new Windows version has never been forced on you like this before. Earlier you had to "opt in", if you will, by purchasing a new version of Windows and installing it, whereas now you have to actively "opt out". That is, if you're savvy enough to do so. Microsoft certainly doesn't want you to.

[scaryjim]

She added that she hadn't even heard of Windows 10 before this incident.

Even given the weirdness of the last week, this still goes down as the most impressive instance of wilful ignorance I've heard! How someone living in a prosperous Western country managed to not hear of Windows 10 is ... well, I'm staggered.

[lumireleon]

I also need the 10k to buy a GT1080

[Corky34]

I'm confused, the court awarded 10k but Microsoft settled to avoid further litigation, and no admission of wrongdoing.
Does that mean it doesn't set precedence, is the court award part like when we hear about people settling out of court in the UK?

[crossy]

Even given the weirdness of the last week, this still goes down as the most impressive instance of wilful ignorance I've heard! How someone living in a prosperous Western country managed to not hear of Windows 10 is ... well, I'm staggered.

I'm willing to bet that the "not heard of" is just legal hyperbole - when in fact what was meant was that she'd probably "heard" of it, but was not "aware" of it. Maybe she was a devotee of Fox News, in which case the announcement maybe slipped past her.

Except a new Windows version has never been forced on you like this before. Earlier you had to "opt in", if you will, by purchasing a new version of Windows and installing it, whereas now you have to actively "opt out". That is, if you're savvy enough to do so. Microsoft certainly doesn't want you to.

Yep, and I'm pretty unimpressed with the way that they opt you into some really questionable things - have a look at the default setup around wifi for a start, then I caught my gaming PC trying to download some Candy Crush POS the other day. Then again, I'm still waiting for my copy of the Linux layer (signed up for Windows Insider specially). In fact the only good surprise I've had with W10 so far is that I got "offered" a free copy of Forza for PC since I've got the Xbox One version. And that's actually a pretty decent game...

Speaking of Windows 10, something in a recent update looks to have messed up Raptr for me - I've been binging on Just Cause 3, but according to my stats I've not played it. Ho hum! Although maybe that's perhaps because I deinstalled plays.tv too.

[Ttaskmaster]

Sounds like the lawyer told her what to say...

My own upgrade went a bit awry, due to a conflict with MSSE and MalWareBytes... but a full clean install sorted that out!!

[Vigil]

She added that she hadn't even heard of Windows 10 before this incident.

Even given the weirdness of the last week, this still goes down as the most impressive instance of wilful ignorance I've heard! How someone living in a prosperous Western country managed to not hear of Windows 10 is ... well, I'm staggered.

Why? I don't think this is that uncommon. A lot of people either don't have the time or just don't care about the latest trends in technology. The same is true of a lot of things in life.

Sure, they probably saw the notifications, but that might not have meant anything to them besides oh look, another update.

[forsakenrichy]

Windows 10 has done this to 30% of our laptops not on a domain in work, I was forced to find a quick option to stop it. Never10 is well worth an install for remote users who are unsure what they are clicking or "didn't click"

[dedly]

Come on ... Microsoft should start giving cash for that crap anyways

[LeetyMcLeet]

You can sue a fly for landing in your dinner in the US

[crossy]

You can sue a fly for landing in your dinner in the US

Maybe that's why all the waiters should carry firearms...

(sarcasm)

Sent from my phone with Tapatalk

[excalibur1814]

"Windows 10 has done this to 30% of our laptops not on a domain in work, I was forced to find a quick option to stop it. Never10 is well worth an install for remote users who are unsure what they are clicking or “didn't click”"

No, seriously, you're not joking? Where is your SYS admin? Why doesn't the company have a WSUS machine?

[chinf]

While Microsoft are partly to blame for questionable upgrade process design, however if you have a business there's no excuse for not having adequate IT support available either in-house or contracted - it's fundamental!