Have you updated to Windows 10 yet? If you are a Mac owner, or simply don’t own a PC, then the answer is probably “no”.
But if you do have a desktop or notebook PC running Windows 7 or 8.1, the chances are that you’ve been at the receiving end of some increasingly strong-arm tactics on the part of Microsoft to persuade you to upgrade to version 10.
Most of the people I know have conceded defeat and taken the plunge – some of them unwittingly as I’ll explain later. But I also know a hardy handful who continue to cling tenaciously on to their versions of Windows 7 and they’re growing increasingly angry at the ever sneakier ploys the technology company is using to try to get them to upgrade.
I do understand why it wants as many people as possible to be using the latest version of its operating system – at the launch of Windows 10 last July, Microsoft said it was targeting 1 billion users within a year.
In my opinion, Windows 10 really is the best version of the OS for the average user. It has retained all the best parts of Windows 7 while having jettisoned most of the annoying, confusing elements of Windows 8.1.
Once the enormous initial download is installed, Windows 10 updates – including the latest security patches – are quick, automatic and happen in the background, making the average Windows 10 user a lot safer from cyber threats than the average Windows 7 user.
So why would anyone resist the upgrade? It’s free after all.
Well, not everyone is the average user. Some people run speciality software that will not work on Windows 10. I was told of a teacher whose system updated overnight and she arrived at school to find that the educational software she uses to run her classes no longer worked.
Businesses are notoriously slow to upgrade, sometimes with good reason. Training staff on new software is costly and time-consuming and once you have a system that runs smoothly – as Windows 7 generally does – business owners are loathe to make changes.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
But many of these hold-outs have woken up one morning to find themselves the owners of a shiny new Windows 10 operating system, with no recollection of having authorised the upgrade.
How could this happen?
Back in February, Microsoft made Windows 10 a recommended update for Windows 7 and 8.1. For most users, recommended updates are automatic. The result was tens of millions of new Windows 10 installs – many of them to unwilling customers.
They were given the opportunity to accept or decline the installation, but rejection meant a lengthy uninstall process that often failed.
The online howls of protest had just started to subside when a couple of weeks ago Microsoft re-ignited the furore by employing its sneakiest ploy yet.
Until then, users were able to stave off repeated update requests by simply clicking the “X” to close the request dialogue box.
But those who clicked the X on the latest pop-up, assuming they’d cancelled yet another pesky update request, were in for a nasty surprise when they discovered a few days later that Windows 10 had been installed on their PCs.
In its defence, Microsoft pointed out that had these users actually read the text in the dialogue box, rather than assuming it was the same as the dozens of previous ones they had dismissed, they’d have realised they needed to click a link in the middle of the text and follow a path through a menu to cancel the update.
I’m sorry, Microsoft, but this just isn’t good enough. It’s the kind of tactic we correctly deride when it’s used by sleazy adware makers to push their dodgy products on us. It’s certainly not the sort of behaviour that should be condoned, let alone employed, by a responsible global company.
The good news is that there’s only a few weeks until the pestering ends – the free Windows 10 upgrade offer ends on July 29.
If you are one of the few owners of Windows 7 or 8.1 who still wants to take advantage of the offer and haven’t done so, you have until then.
If you have a good reason to hang on to your edition of Windows 7 or 8.1 – though in my opinion there’s no good reason to stick with the latter – that’s how long you have to hold out.
If you would like a little help with that goal, respected security expert and avowed Windows 7 users, Steve Gibson, has written a programme especially for you.
The delightfully-named Never 10 is free and tiny, so its quick to download. Just run it and it disables the automatic upgrade to Windows 10.
I really like the fact that it doesn’t install anything on your PC and you can delete it when you’re done.
If you change your mind and want to upgrade to Windows 10, just download and run Never 10 again to re-enable this capability.
Visit www.grc.com/never10 to download Never 10.
l Follow Alan Cooper on Twitter @alanqcooper.