14 DAY TRIAL // As we reported to you yesterday, a number of users that were still running Windows 7 on their PCs were forced to upgrade to Windows 10, with Windows Update providing no other option than to restart the computer and start the install.
Although initially it wasn’t very clear what exactly happened because the Windows 10 upgrade was supposed to be optional in the first place, a statement released by the software giant to Ars confirms that it was all just a mistake.
Basically, the optional upgrade to Windows 10, which was… er… optional, was checked by default, which means that it was automatically downloaded and installed on Windows 7 PCs. The company says that it all happened accidentally and has since removed this configuration to make sure that users are still allowed to choose if they want to install Windows 10 or not.
“As part of our effort to bring Windows 10 to existing genuine Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 customers, the Windows 10 upgrade may appear as an optional update in the Windows Update (WU) control panel. This is an intuitive and trusted place people go to find Recommended and Optional updates to Windows. In the recent Windows update, this option was checked as default; this was a mistake and we are removing the check,” the full statement reads.
You can still delay the upgrade
At first, it was believed that installing Windows 10 was the only option for PCs impacted by this change, but it wasn’t. Actually, users could view the optional updates selected for install and uncheck the Windows 10 upgrade manually. What’s more, the Windows 10 installer needs users’ confirmation to begin, so there are several ways to stop the upgrade from happening if you just want to stick to the existing OS version.
But this is clearly no excuse for Microsoft, and for many, it’s hard to believe it was just a mistake. Not when the company needs to upgrade as many people as possible to Windows 10.