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Microsoft Stopped Forcing Windows 10 Upgrades for All Users

October 20, 2015

Windows 10 upgrades are free for most Windows 7 and 8 users. Free is good right? Well, not so good if you don’t want to upgrade now. There have been reports that some users are beginning to get notifications that the Windows 10 Upgrade is available and there is no way to opt out. Their only option is to begin the upgrade or schedule it for a future time. I’m not sure how accurate those reports are, but Microsoft did admit that there was a recent mistake in the update process. Apparently, the Windows 10 Upgrade was being forced down the throats of those users that had automatic updates enabled. I must admit that I experienced the attempted cramming of Windows 10, but I was able to get around it.

The problem was that the Windows 10 Upgrade is an optional update, but it came down to user’s computers with the checkbox selected by default. That meant that if you were configured to automatically download and install updates, you were suddenly upgraded to Windows 10. In my case, I am configured to “Download updates but let me choose whether to install them.” When the Windows update pushed the Windows 10 option to my computer, it appeared as if I had no choice but to upgrade. There wasn’t even an option to install the other Windows updates. That’s when I noticed that the Windows 10 Upgrade was an optional update and already checked. Unchecking the upgrade let me install the other updates. I even went so far as to hide the update, but it kept wanting to install after each reboot. The option is gone now, so it does look like Microsoft fixed the problem. Thank goodness – I was getting pretty tired of unchecking the box and hiding the update.

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