Windows 10 Upgrade Nag Gets One More Push
Microsoft is giving Windows 10 one last push before the free upgrade offer ends on July 29 for Windows 7 and 8 users. It comes through a full-screen pop-up message that could well irritate those who have chosen to give the new system a miss.
The new message will appear for some, but not all users who have yet to upgrade. It takes up the full screen and is white text on a blue background. That's a curious choice, as that color scheme is traditionally associated with the Blue Screen of Death, particularly in full-screen use. (Source: theverge.com)
Upgrade Message Includes Apology
The message has the headline: "Sorry to interrupt, but this is important. Windows 10 free upgrade offer ends July 29. Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 10 - the most secure Windows ever built. The upgrade is free and you can easily roll-back to your current operating system within 31 days if you decide Windows 10 is not right for you. We'll check for compatibility before starting the upgrade. Over 300 million people have upgraded. Upgrade your PC before the offer ends!" (Source: theguardian.com)
Users will then have four options to choose from. Two are in the form of traditional menu buttons with the default being "Upgrade now." That may mean that if a user unwittingly presses the Enter key rather than use the mouse to click, the installation process will start automatically.
The other main option is "Remind me later." It appears choosing this will cause the screen to return around once every three days, at least until the end of July.
Windows 10 Opt-Out Link Less Visible
The other two options are harder to spot as they appear at the bottom of the screen as text-only links and are in a light blue text on the dark blue background. They let users choose to have Microsoft "Notify me three more times" or simply select "Do not notify me again."
In theory, this should mark an end to the hard sell of Windows 10, with Microsoft introducing a fee for upgrades from August. It's yet to announce what that fee will be and some more cynical observers suspect the company will announce an extension. It's certainly hard to imagine how many people will decide to pay for an upgrade after rejecting the free offer for an entire year.
What's Your Opinion?
Is a full-screen message an acceptable way for Microsoft to push the upgrade offer? Will you select the "Do not notify me again" option and do you believe it will work? Should Microsoft stop such promotion for good after the free upgrade period ends?
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Comments
Help upgrading to Windows 10
A reminder - if anyone needs help upgrading to Windows 10, including: free consultation, a hardware and software compatibility examination, disk image backup, install of Windows 10, and modifications to the OS (including resolving outstanding compatibility issues and making it work more like Windows 7) - I can help. Simply contact me with a brief message and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. If you have a critical system it may also be possible to virtualize the old operating system prior to the upgrade, so it can run on top of Windows 10 as a virtual machine, if needed.
Microsoft should have stopped
Microsoft should have stopped using the nag malware and other tactics before they ever started.
I was the victim of an unwanted upgrade to Windows 10 and it did not go at all well on my PC. Windows 10 never worked well enough for me to make it practical to consider keeping it. In my opinion, it was not nearly stable enough to be out of beta at that time.
I could not buy into having to be signed into a Microsoft account to make Windows 10 work correctly. I am an advocate for Internet privacy. Signing in becoming mandatory was apparently a change that was implemented by Microsoft a few days after my upgrade. This is what Microsoft advised me anyway.
I had tremendous challenges downgrading back to Windows 7 and enlisted the help of Microsoft. I happened to have a subscription to a Windows service contract called "Assure" I think. That was required of me to engage before Microsoft would help me mitigate the damages caused by the upgrade and subsequent downgrade. I was told I'd otherwise have to pay an hourly fee. The rationale given was that there was free upgrade assistance to Windows 10, but it did not extend to downgrading back to Windows 7. The fact that my PC was essentially unusable from the Windows 10 bugs didn't matter to Microsoft.
I am now torn as to whether to upgrade or not. I'm disabled and on a fixed income and don't want to pass up an opportunity that I may inevitably need to pay for later. Microsoft's game playing makes it impossible to know what else they have up their sleeves.
Windows 10 does not require an email account to login
You can pick whether to use a Microsoft password (live.com email address) or a local account during the setup. You can also switch between a live account and a local account after Windows 10 has been installed (with the default being the live.com account) - and even vice versa if you want. Having a local account does make things considerably more private. Also, making Windows 10 act like 7 is fairly simple, especially with Classic Shell and a few other tweaks.
Windows 10 is a lot more stable than what it was when it first came out so if you want to give it another shot I'd be more than happy to help. And for the record, I would never leave anyone "hanging" if they didn't like the upgrade, if that means making adjustments and/or explaining things 1-on-1 for another follow-up session (also included in my services), or downgrading back to 7.
Microsoft...meh, not so much anymore
I used to be a staunch MS gal, and MS used to be a reputable company given its size. I saw Versions ME and 2000 as bad releases with the purpose of income/profit. The next really bad decision was 8, and then compounded with 8.1 which led me to decide that Microsoft was no longer concerned with the 'global technical advances' business ideal that I believed Mr. Gates originally held.
After this 10 debacle, I no longer hold respect for Microsoft and do wish there were more options than currently available (OK, there are, but not for the average home user...just techie types).
I do hope that MS has learned their lesson, but if they have, I fear it is way too little, way too late. The damage has been done, and they have not only begun but accelerated their own demise.
One good result of all of this, I only need to support clients with 7 and 10, since XP is gone and 8.1 is going...going...
Stop the Windows Nag Madness
Steve Gibson the acclaimed developer of Spin Rite has developed a tool to stop the Nag and protect the OS from upgrading.
Never10 does NOT prevent the installation of Windows updates, including
the infamous Get Windows 10 (GWX) update KB3035583. Never10 simply
employs Microsoft's documented and sanctioned configuration settings to
instruct it NOT to change the installed version of Windows
https://www.grc.com/never10.htm
Upgrade to win 10 or not
It is very simple to prevent upgrade to windows 10 just click on NO whenever asked to agree to their terms and conditions!
I have after taking image backup with acronis converted all my computers to windows 10 and have had no serious problems but do know what I am doing. The reason being to take advantage of the Microsoft offer so that I can do clean install at any time with new/same hard drive should I want to sell computer it is remembered by Microsoft as being installed, this will increase resale value of computer and give the option at no extra cost to next user should they wish to take it.
Keep up the good work with your very informative writing, for beginners and experts alike.
Win 10 Upgrade Nag
The horror of Win 10 nagging will finally die on the 29th. After that I can turn my Windows updates back on. I found that was the only way to cease the endless nagging of GWX. The Win 10 upgrade from MS to me seemed that they were trying to push it across more like a malware install. Considering the way the OS works it does seem like malware to me. Personally, this has turned me off completely on MS. I'm planning on building a new desktop to replace my ancient laptop and will go with Linux on it and will only suffer the indignity of dealing with MS at work in the future.