Microsoft deploys full screen Windows 10 upgrade nag

midian182

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Staff member

With less than a month to go before the Windows 10 free upgrade offer comes to an end, Microsoft is making a last-minute push to convince users of its older operating systems that they really would be better off making the move to the latest OS.

Microsoft has gone all out with this final piece of nagware. If you thought the previous upgrade notifications were invasive, wait until you see the full-screen, purple announcements that are appearing from now until July 29 – the day the free Windows 10 offer ends.

The new prompt may take up your entire desktop, and some users could, on first inspection, mistake it for the blue screen of death, but at least Microsoft starts off with an apology. “Sorry to interrupt, but this is important,” it states, before advising people to upgrade.

Windows users can choose to upgrade straight away, be reminded later, receive three more notifications, or never see the prompt again.

There will be some Windows 7 and 8.1 users who never see the full-screen alert, including anyone who has previously selected the ‘Do not notify me again’ option, those who upgraded and rolled back, and people with a computer that is detected to be incompatible with Windows 10. Additionally, the prompt won’t appear if you have a recent version of the “Get Windows 10” app installed.

Microsoft has received endless criticism for its aggressiveness when it comes to making Windows users upgrade. The company was accused of using “malware-like” tactics when it was discovered that clicking on the red x in a pop-up’s window was being considered as consent for the upgrade to take place. And last week, a woman was awarded $10,000 through a lawsuit that alleged the forced installation caused her PC to become slow and unusable.

There have been incidents where the prompts made some very public appearances, such as the live weather report and the Counter-Strike Twitch stream that were interrupted by the upgrade window. But they're set to disappear for good in a few weeks time, and anyone who wants to upgrade after this point will have to pay $199.

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I find it hilarious that MS brags about Windows 10 uptake when it's free for a year and they pull stuff like this.

MS made a claim that there would be X amount of people using Windows 10 by a certain date. People were ignoring the non-invasive upgrade prompts because they really didn't care to upgrade as their current OS was working just fine. So MS went aggressive in order to meet the claim they made so many months ago.
 
Sadly, I did the initial upgrade on one of my machines and while there have been a few issues, they usually get worked out quickly, so for that reason I can't complain. I did have an issue awhile back with a bug that apparently infected the system and caused this computer to constantly list the "Activate Windows" text in the bottom right hand of the screen. Does not affect the performance, but it's annoying and I am left wondering if they will eventually shut down this unit. I have combed through their FAQ files and found no answer, written and commented to them on a number of occasions and have yet to receive any kind of reply; so once again this must be one of those legendary Microsoft "undocumented features" that we have to live with........
 
$199 ? That's twice what previous Windows OS have cost. How do they justify that pricetag?
I'm borderline on whether I'll upgrade this month - I don't see the need to but I probably will just to "future-proof" the PC for DirectX12.
 
65 different ways M$ "looks over your shoulder".

If it's free, YOU are the commodity.

And, it's not really free. You are invalidating a perfectly good Win 7 or 8 license for your "free" Win 10 installation.

As I also understand it, if you have Win 7/8 Pro, your "free" Win 10 upgrade will be the basic Home edition. Maybe you could 'whine' them to up grading it to Win 10 Pro when you get to speak to their offshore CSR, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

No thanks!
 
65 different ways M$ "looks over your shoulder".

If it's free, YOU are the commodity.

And, it's not really free. You are invalidating a perfectly good Win 7 or 8 license for your "free" Win 10 installation.

As I also understand it, if you have Win 7/8 Pro, your "free" Win 10 upgrade will be the basic Home edition. Maybe you could 'whine' them to up grading it to Win 10 Pro when you get to speak to their offshore CSR, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

No thanks!
Wow, you are so grossly misinformed, I don't even know where to begin!!!

Well, I'm not going to set you on the right track and you seem to have mastered the use of the keyboard having typed all those "words", so I'm sure you can find the answers yourself with a little keyword searches online. Oh, and no, you get Windows 10 PRO when upgraded from Windows 8 PRO, just saying...
 
I find it hilarious that MS brags about Windows 10 uptake when it's free for a year and they pull stuff like this.

Well, once you get past the bugged features...

Lol yeah there's so many D:. I'm pretty sure a lot of convos in the past year (let's face it way more than a year lol) have been like: [30 year old developer] "The code isn't ready yet. There's not enough tests and we already have a huge amount of confirmed bugs!" [24 year old manager] "You don't make the decisions around here. I do. Push the code to production." [Public complains about ton of bugs] [manager] "The public is outraged at the amount of bugs on this feature. I place full responsibility on you and your lack of skill." [developer] "But I told you that the code is barely tested and there's already a lot of bugs! We needed more time." [manager] "You're fired."
 
65 different ways M$ "looks over your shoulder".

If it's free, YOU are the commodity.

And, it's not really free. You are invalidating a perfectly good Win 7 or 8 license for your "free" Win 10 installation.

As I also understand it, if you have Win 7/8 Pro, your "free" Win 10 upgrade will be the basic Home edition. Maybe you could 'whine' them to up grading it to Win 10 Pro when you get to speak to their offshore CSR, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

No thanks!
If you have a Pro edition, you get a Pro edition for 10. It has always worked this way. I know cause I went from 7 Pro to 10 Pro from the beginning. Learn the facts before posting info which you know nothing about.
 
Sorry, but this is important..........important to who exactly? Microsoft financial division.
As @Wizzwill mentioned with the internet/software today, YOU are the commodity. As much as possible is monitored, monetized...if it's free, it ain't really free, the price is just not obvious.
Sadly with Win 10 (which I actually use) now your OS has made you the commodity, greater than anytime in the past.
 
I'm going to dual install this for directx in the future. I wonder if I will still get pops on win7. And just so you all know I highly doubt it's going to stop being a free upgrade. New message good NEWS! YOU HAVE ONE MORE MONTH TO GET OUR NEW AD BASED OS!!
 
Lol yeah there's so many D:. I'm pretty sure a lot of convos in the past year (let's face it way more than a year lol) have been like: [30 year old developer] "The code isn't ready yet. There's not enough tests and we already have a huge amount of confirmed bugs!" [24 year old manager] "You don't make the decisions around here. I do. Push the code to production." [Public complains about ton of bugs] [manager] "The public is outraged at the amount of bugs on this feature. I place full responsibility on you and your lack of skill." [developer] "But I told you that the code is barely tested and there's already a lot of bugs! We needed more time." [manager] "You're fired."

Pretty sure you copied this from security footage of the dev meeting about Windows Fast Startup.
 
That weather report is priceless. I bet the IT guy got a mouthful for that!
Don't see why. Microsoft are the ones sneaking malware style prompts into recommended updates for the first time. When have they done things like this before? What would have been worse was if an upgrade was automatically scheduled and occurred while on air!
 
$199 ? That's twice what previous Windows OS have cost. How do they justify that pricetag?
I'm borderline on whether I'll upgrade this month - I don't see the need to but I probably will just to "future-proof" the PC for DirectX12.

Pricing is the same as previous versions: Retail is $119 or $199 for Pro, OEM is $99 or $139 for Pro.
 
The weird thing is that Microsoft is cutting the free upgrade offer off a few days before a major update to Windows 10 is to be released. Why subject people who were reluctant to upgrade in any event (or they would have done so months ago) to go through a major Windows 10 update just a few days after upgrading? Why not extend the free offer until after the update or make the updated version available before the upgrade offer ends?
 
The weird thing is that Microsoft is cutting the free upgrade offer off a few days before a major update to Windows 10 is to be released. Why subject people who were reluctant to upgrade in any event (or they would have done so months ago) to go through a major Windows 10 update just a few days after upgrading? Why not extend the free offer until after the update or make the updated version available before the upgrade offer ends?
Mainly because this is how it was originally set up. Also ppl are now tired of seeing Windows 10 in front of them. It's only a matter of time before majority will be using 10. 7 and 8 are being axed and official support (which means nothing) is done in a few yrs anyways.
 
I just went back to Win 7 from 10, but installed on a brand new drive and just dumped the old one. Wonder if that is considered a "downgrade" and I wont get nagged... We'll see I guess.

Windows 10 interface is crap, they have removed so many features it is a pain in the a$$ now. It has less options than Mac for christ sake.
 
I just went back to Win 7 from 10, but installed on a brand new drive and just dumped the old one. Wonder if that is considered a "downgrade" and I wont get nagged... We'll see I guess.

Windows 10 interface is crap, they have removed so many features it is a pain in the a$$ now. It has less options than Mac for christ sake.
What windows 7 features are you missing? You have them all and then some. Don't tell me that you could not find the control panel or something stupid like that.

If you are either a gamer or a developer you are pretty much better off upgrading. The benefits far outway the cons.
 
One problem is that so many folks who give the impression of being techwise have rubbished W10 and as a consequence others who are technically challenged have also tried to avoid the upgrade. I know one such person who was terrified by all of this and appears to have interrupted the W10 install screwing up her computer.

I'm with Microsoft on this and believe they have done a good making what is certainly the best Windows version so far an easy upgrade. The apps store needs some serious work though and if anybody wants a laugh install Media Player which insists that you give it a five star rating before using it, bombards you with ads and then wants your Microsoft account passwork. Hilarious! :)
 
One problem is that so many folks who give the impression of being techwise have rubbished W10 and as a consequence others who are technically challenged have also tried to avoid the upgrade. I know one such person who was terrified by all of this and appears to have interrupted the W10 install screwing up her computer.

I'm with Microsoft on this and believe they have done a good making what is certainly the best Windows version so far an easy upgrade. The apps store needs some serious work though and if anybody wants a laugh install Media Player which insists that you give it a five star rating before using it, bombards you with ads and then wants your Microsoft account passwork. Hilarious! :)
in general you can't really break your computer by interrupting the upgrade process. it will just revert back to the previous OS if the upgrade fails (hard reset, power failure, etc). what exactly did he do? :D
 
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