14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has been rather aggressive with its push for Windows 10 upgrades, and in the last several months, there have been plenty of complaints from people who claimed that their computers got upgraded to the new OS all of a sudden without them even giving their consent.
This is what Teri Goldstein of Sausalito, California, claims it happened on her PC too, as the upgrade to Windows 10 was performed all automatically and then impacted her business.
Goldstein explains that she didn’t even hear about Windows 10 because her computer started installing the new operating system, and due to the fact that everything was running slowly and the PC was being used for her travel agency business, she decided to get in touch with Microsoft support for ask for assistance.
Nobody could help improve the performance of the computer, she explains, so she decided to move the whole case to court.
Microsoft agreed to pay $10,000 in damages
The woman has recently won the lawsuit against Microsoft, and although the software giant first wanted to file an appeal and continue the legal dispute, it then decided to give up on this idea and pay $10,000 (€9,000) in damages to the woman. The company says that this is the best way to resolve the case, as it would only spend more money on going on with the lawsuit than by simply paying for the damages.
While Microsoft doesn’t actually admit that the woman’s computer got upgraded to Windows 10 without her consent, the mere fact that the company decided to pay the damages raises some questions and gives hope to other users whose PCs ended up running the new operating system that they could win thousands in damages as well.
Last year, several users were considering a class action against Microsoft after they discovered that their computers were upgraded to Windows 10 and experienced rather poor performance. The class action lawsuit, however, never went forward, but more users might actually be encouraged by today’s news to bring Microsoft in court should their PC end up running Windows 10 all of a sudden.