My dad called me the other day to tell me that when he booted up his computer in the morning – SURPRISE! He now had Windows 10.
Say what?!
Needless to say, he wasn’t pleased.
I’ve actually heard this story from several people now – they get up from their computer, and return to it installing Windows 10 “for them”… without them even asking for it!
Yes, it’s true – Microsoft has changed the way Windows 10 is being pushed out to the masses and now scores of people are having Windows 10 jammed down their throats.
Now for people who were running Windows 8 previously, I’m not sure I’d complain. Let’s face it – Windows 8 was a STINKER. This may be the best thing that’s happened to your computer since you got it.
But for those of us fortunate enough to be happily chugging along with Windows 7, I know I’d be pretty frustrated if I returned to my computer to see that it had been “upgraded” to Windows 10 without my permission.
So what’s the deal? And how can you prevent this? And further, what can you do to “go back” if you’ve already fallen victim to this?
I’ll answer these questions in order.
1) The deal is, Microsoft recently changed the Windows 10 update from an “Optional” update to a “Recommended” update. What this means is that if your computer is set to install recommended updates automatically, you may find yourself sitting in front of a Windows 10 desktop the next time you boot up your computer.
To prevent this, you need to check your Windows update settings. Go to your start menu, and type into the search area “windows update” – this should pull up “Windows Update” under Programs. Open this up and then choose “Change settings” on the left. In this window, you’ll see all the settings for handling Windows updates. You have quite a few options of how to handle updates. Remember, Windows 10 is now a “Recommended Update.
2) Personally, I have mine set to “Check for updates but let me chose whether to download and install them.”Then under Recommended updates I have the box checked that says “Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates.”With it set this way – I get to choose exactly what gets downloaded installed BEFORE it does anything – and I won’t find myself sitting in front of Windows 10 without my consent.
3) If you’ve already been upgraded to Windows 10 and you want to go back, you have 30 days to do so without much trouble. To do this, go to the Start menu and choose Settings. Then click “Update & Security” and select “Recovery”. Now you’ll see a “Go back to Windows 7 (or 8.1)” Click “Get Started” to begin the process of reverting to your previous version of Windows. Might as well get comfortable – it’s gonna take a while.
Now all of this said, I’ve been running Windows 10 on one of my computers for a couple months now and I must say – it’s WAY better than Windows 8. I’m still running Windows 7 on my main computer and I intend to stick with it – it works perfectly and I really don’t feel compelled to migrate. So the choice is yours – if you’re running Windows 8, upgrading will probably be a good move.
I usually recommend people wait a while after Microsoft releases an operating system before getting it – Microsoft tends to use the first year (or more) after a release to fix all the stuff that doesn’t work at launch, so the early adopters end up being the beta testers – or “suckers” as I’m sure some of the folks at Microsoft call them. Seriously though, it usually takes Microsoft a good year post-launch to get it right, but it’s been longer than that since the release of Windows 10 and it seems as though most of the bugs have indeed been worked out – and the result is actually a compellingly good operating system.
But as I say, if you’re running Windows 7, you may have to think twice about whether you want to move to Windows 10. At least now though, you know how to get back if you decide you don’t like the new version.
Hope this helps!