14 DAY TRIAL // Back in 2015 when Microsoft officially launched Windows 10, the company offered it completely free of charge if the upgrade from genuine Windows 7 or 8.1 was performed within the first 12 months after the release.
But even though the promo came to an end in July 2016, Windows 10 was still available free of charge with a trick that Microsoft didn’t seem to be too very keen on blocking, and by the looks of things, the same trick continues to be available today.
Basically, Microsoft allows customers who use assistive technologies to upgrade to Windows 10 at no cost, and all they have to do is to “claim” they use an accessibility feature in the operating system. There’s no verification taking place and the upgrade can be performed by pretty much anyone presuming they run a genuine copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
This doesn’t mean that Windows 10 is free of charge. No, because whoever wants to use this “loophole” to upgrade to Windows 10 still needs a genuine license for their Windows operating system. But with product keys for Windows 7 and 8.1 still up for grabs these days if you know where to look, moving to Windows 10 is less expensive than it might seem at first glance.
No word on blocking the loophole
So does Microsoft plan to block this free upgrade method? Good question, and although an official answer isn’t available, the company says on the upgrade page that the offer will come to an end at some point.
“We have not announced an end date of the upgrade offer for customers using assistive technology. We will make a public announcement prior to ending the offer,” the firm says.
But this doesn’t mean anything. The message was posted on the page when the free upgrade campaign went live, and the last time we discussed this free Windows 10 upgrade trick back on March 27 ahead of the launch of the Creators Update, Microsoft said pretty much the same thing.
So there you go. There’s still a way to upgrade to Windows 10 without paying a single cent, and by the looks of things, Microsoft is perfectly fine with people using it to install the OS. If only this helps kill off Windows 7 and 8.1…