Windows 7/8 people are now getting this popup informing you of a pending Windows 10 upgrade.
A lot of people don't thoroughly read the popup and assume clicking the red X will cancel the upgrade. However, it only closes the popup, and will go ahead and install Windows 10 while you're sleeping.
So a lot of people are waking up to a new OS they didn't authorize.
The only way to actually cancel the upgrade is by clicking the tiny one-word link under the huge date. Clicking anything else means "go ahead and upgrade me."
The previous popup from last year looked like the below, where the only way to say NO is to click the red X. So they basically trained everyone to click the red X and then now people are thinking they're safe from Windows 10 when they're actually acknowledging the upgrade.
Microsoft makes final, aggressive Windows 10 upgrade push
PSA: Closing the "Upgrade to Windows 10" box now counts as ACCEPTING the update, which will automatically occur 15 minutes after logging in unless canceled
A lot of people don't thoroughly read the popup and assume clicking the red X will cancel the upgrade. However, it only closes the popup, and will go ahead and install Windows 10 while you're sleeping.
So a lot of people are waking up to a new OS they didn't authorize.
The only way to actually cancel the upgrade is by clicking the tiny one-word link under the huge date. Clicking anything else means "go ahead and upgrade me."
The previous popup from last year looked like the below, where the only way to say NO is to click the red X. So they basically trained everyone to click the red X and then now people are thinking they're safe from Windows 10 when they're actually acknowledging the upgrade.
Especially when you consider the fact that earlier upgrade prompts looked like this:
Here you HAD to click the red X, and there was nowhere in the dialog box to click to cancel. And now you get one that works completely the other way around.
Considering the fact that you get this above dialog EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY, one could be forgiven for not reading it through that thoroughly every single time.
It's shady as fuck. I don't see why anyone would want to defend it unless they're getting paid for it.
Check out this shit that greeted my work computer this morning upon boot.
That's 13 minutes 38 seconds. Click 'I need more time'
Click 'reschedule'...
And there it is, the only way to cancel
Microsoft makes final, aggressive Windows 10 upgrade push
PSA: Closing the "Upgrade to Windows 10" box now counts as ACCEPTING the update, which will automatically occur 15 minutes after logging in unless canceled
Last week, Microsoft switched the automatically-offered Windows 10 upgrade to a "Recommended" download that in turn scheduled the upgrade process unless the user interfered.
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According to both the latest and the previous versions of the support document, the upgrade and its scheduled implementation is approved when the user either clicks the "OK" button or the "X" in the upper right corner of the notification.
"If you click on OK or on the red 'X', you're all set for the upgrade and there is nothing further to do," the document stated. The "X" Microsoft mentioned is one way to close a window in Windows.
But Microsoft's interpretation of clicking the X is contrary to decades of practice in windowed user interfaces (UIs) and normal user expectations: To users, shutting a window by clicking the X tells the OS to remove the notification or application frame without expressing an opinion, selecting an option or calling up an operation.
Instead, Microsoft equates closing the window with approving the scheduled upgrade.
Microsoft has applied some unusual stratagems in its efforts to get customers to upgrade to Windows 10, but this behavior is among its most aggressive simply because it is deceptive in the context of normal Windows UI behavior.
In fact, it's very likely that many of the accounts -- and they have been widespread -- that the proffered Windows 10 upgrade began without user approval can be traced to this strange interpretation by Microsoft. Thinking that by clicking the X they were rejecting the notification, or at least ignoring it, users instead were actually authorizing the upgrade.
When the upgrade began later, they professed they had not approved it, not remembering an explicit affirmation, when in reality they had -- under Microsoft's rules -- given the green light.
On Windows 10 the update dialog is very deceptive too. It asks you IF you want to delay the update, so naturally the user selects a New date and clicks OK, except instead of the "OK" button it has "Restart Now" which straight up leads to blue updating screen.