Microsoft Sued After Windows 10 Upgrade “Destroyed Users’ Computers”

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Exterminator

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Microsoft Sued After Windows 10 Upgrade “Destroyed Users’ Computers”

Windows 10 was launched nearly 2 years ago, but this doesn’t mean Microsoft’s problems caused by the upgrade system are over.

Three Windows users whose computers were upgraded to Windows 10 decided to file a lawsuit against Microsoft after the operating system caused loss of data and hardware damage, which in the end led to substantial costs for each of them.

In the lawsuit documents (via The Reg), the plaintiffs explain that Microsoft did not “exercise reasonable care in designing, formulating, and manufacturing the Windows 10 upgrade,” becoming responsible for damages caused to users in the form of data loss and hardware issues.

Microsoft: Claims without merit
The three plaintiffs, Stephanie Watson, Robert Saiger, and Howard Goldberg, were all pressured to install Windows 10 by Microsoft’s aggressive nags that showed up on the desktop frequently, and two of them eventually agreed to perform the switch to the new OS.

Watson, however, says that the upgrade to Windows 10 was performed without authorization, and even caused data loss, so professional services were needed to recover specific files. Saiger says his computer was also broke down, while Goldberg claims he installed Windows 10 six months after being nagged to do it every single day, explaining that his PC also stopped functioning when he finally completed the switch.

The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status, explaining there are hundreds of thousands of angry users in the United States who got their computers broken down because of the forced upgrade to Windows 10.

Microsoft has already issued a statement as a response to the lawsuit, explaining that these claims are without merit, as all Windows 10 users had 30 days to downgrade to their previous operating systems after the switch to Windows 10 if they weren’t satisfied with the new OS.

"The Windows 10 free upgrade program was a choice designed to help people take advantage of the most secure, and most productive Windows. Customers had the option not to upgrade to Windows 10. If a customer who upgraded during the one year program needed help with the upgrade experience, we had numerous options including free customer support and 31-days to roll back to their old operating system. We believe the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit,” the firm said.
 

Amelith Nargothrond

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Two words: Argument to moderation
1. Microsoft had an aggressive upgrade program, true. Also, Win10 is a very good OS, better than Win7 or far better than 8(.1), in my personal opinion.
2. Everybody (or at least this is what I think) knows that upgrading a Windows from an older version to a newer one (and by upgrade I mean super major versions, like Win 7 to 10) is a horrible idea. Better take the time and reinstall everything from scratch.
3. Super annoying, when Microsoft wants to push a better OS for free, it actually does it, and your PC is dead after this.

But to file a class action lawsuit against MS for this... Can't really say I agree. Again, argument to moderation...
 

Stas

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This would not happen if MS did not bully people into upgrade. Why should a user pay for damages that occurred after forced upgrade to Windows 10.
 

Amelith Nargothrond

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This would not happen if MS did not bully people into upgrade. Why should a user pay for damages that occurred after forced upgrade to Windows 10.

Why is giving you a brand new, awesome FREE OS upgrade a bad thing? Obviously it is a bad thing if the upgrade will damage (in any way) your PC. So far (because i had no choice) i upgraded some Windows 7 PCs to Windows 10 and i found no issues with the upgrade. Yes i know there are exceptions were things got terribly wrong, but still, ask MS to pay for the damages, not a class action lawsuit. And yes, i never advice people to upgrade by themselves, without a professional nearby, just in case :p
 
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Arequire

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Why is giving you a brand new, awesome FREE OS upgrade a bad thing?
It's not, but you need to remember two things:
  1. Offering Windows 10 for free is fine but the way Microsoft ran the upgrade campaign isn't. A lot of people who had no interest in upgrading were tricked into doing so and some lost their data in the process. Labelling the upgrade as important in Windows Update meant that those who had automatic updates turned on (which most did as it comes as the default update setting) were upgraded without notice and when the the upgrade notification asking them if they wished to upgrade popped up, clicking the X opted you in to the upgrade instead of the normal behaviour of every other application out there and opting you out.
  2. Free is subjective. Sure, you're getting a whole new operating system for free but you're now paying for it with your data. Microsoft sucks up an absolute crap ton of data when you accept the default settings (so much so that the French government intervened and forced Microsoft to stop collecting data on French citizens), sells that data to advertisers and then sticks targeted ads here and there. Ads are now also starting to make their way into the actual UI of Windows 10 and the options to turn off all this data collection and said ads are buried deep in the settings.
Whether this is worth a class action lawsuit isn't up to you or I. Those users feel it's worth their time and financial investment to file this lawsuit and the presiding judge will decide if he wishes to hear the case or it will get thrown out.
 

Stas

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Why is giving you a brand new, awesome FREE OS upgrade a bad thing? Obviously it is a bad thing if the upgrade will damage (in any way) your PC. So far (because i had no choice) i upgraded some Windows 7 PCs to Windows 10 and i found no issues with the upgrade. Yes i know there are exceptions were things got terribly wrong, but still, ask MS to pay for the damages, not a class action lawsuit. And yes, i never advice people to upgrade by themselves, without a professional nearby, just in case :p
I said bullying people into upgrade is a bad thing.
 

Amelith Nargothrond

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It's not, but you need to remember two things:
  1. Offering Windows 10 for free is fine but the way Microsoft ran the upgrade campaign isn't. A lot of people who had no interest in upgrading were tricked into doing so and some lost their data in the process. Labelling the upgrade as important in Windows Update meant that those who had automatic updates turned on (which most did as it comes as the default update setting) were upgraded without notice and when the the upgrade notification asking them if they wished to upgrade popped up, clicking the X opted you in to the upgrade instead of the normal behaviour of every other application out there and opting you out.
  2. Free is subjective. Sure, you're getting a whole new operating system for free but you're now paying for it with your data. Microsoft sucks up an absolute crap ton of data when you accept the default settings (so much so that the French government intervened and forced Microsoft to stop collecting data on French citizens), sells that data to advertisers and then sticks targeted ads here and there. Ads are now also starting to make their way into the actual UI of Windows 10 and the options to turn off all this data collection and said ads are buried deep in the settings.
Whether this is worth a class action lawsuit isn't up to you or I. Those users feel it's worth their time and financial investment to file this lawsuit and the presiding judge will decide if he wishes to hear the case or it will get thrown out.

Agreed, with both points.

Completely disagree with the presiding judge thing. He will probably understand stuff from that lawsuit as much as i understand rocket science. Technical aspects are as important as saying "judge, i installed windows 10 and i lost my files; forgot to mention that i accidentally formatted my hard drive in the process; ah, judge, can't really show you what i did, because, well, i can't reproduce it, you will just have to believe me". There's most certainly more to it than "they lost their files".
 
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Amelith Nargothrond

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Free doesn't always mean good, and bullying is always bad.

Agreed, free is not always a good thing. But we are talking about Windows 10 from Microsoft. Is Windows 10 a bad thing? Are you using Windows 10? Where's the bully? It was an offer, an aggressive one, but still an offer which anybody could have refused. Should they've asked for assistance if they needed one, i'm sure things would have been different. I never ever lost, or heard of somebody losing data because of a Windows upgrade itself (software level), not without them doing something stupid they did not understand. At the most you lose the ability of your hard drive to boot, and in desperation you click on everything and anything without reading your option while cleaning up your hard drive in the process. Now this i heard about. Not to mention hardware failures and the unfortunate thing to coincide with the Windows 10 upgrade process, like for example a client of mine, who had a bad PSU, and while upgrading to Windows 10, it fried his hard drive, because the upgrade is a very stressful process for the PC, needs a lot of current. I know because it also fried my test hard drive. So yes, things happen, but until you know all the facts, ask for details before judging. Just my honest and personal opinion on these stuff.
 
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Stas

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Agreed, free is not always a good thing. But we are talking about Windows 10 from Microsoft. Is Windows 10 a bad thing? Are you using Windows 10? Where's the bully? It was an offer, an aggressive one, but still an offer which anybody could have refused. Should they've asked for assistance if they needed one, i'm sure things would have been different. I never ever lost, or heard of somebody losing data because of a Windows upgrade itself (software level), not without them doing something stupid they did not understand. At the most you lose the ability of your hard drive to boot, and in desperation you click on everything and anything without reading your option while cleaning up your hard drive in the process. Now this i heard about. Not to mention hardware failures and the unfortunate thing to coincide with the Windows 10 upgrade process, like for example a client of mine, who had a bad PSU, and while upgrading to Windows 10, it fried his hard drive, because the upgrade is a very stressful process for the PC, needs a lot of current. I know because it also fried my test hard drive. So yes, things happen, but until you know all the facts, ask for details before judging. Just my honest and personal opinion on these stuff.
It was an offer that acted as malware to witch you say No but it was constantly nagging to upgrade and downloads Windows 10 to your hdd without your permission, you say that's not bullying it's aggressive offer and I say too many aggressive offers that will not go away is bullying.
 

Amelith Nargothrond

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It was an offer that acted as malware to witch you say No but it was constantly nagging to upgrade and downloads Windows 10 to your hdd without your permission, you say that's not bullying it's aggressive offer and I say too many aggressive offers that will not go away is bullying.

Ok, I respect your opinion. It's a free world, let's sue everybody :D
 

DJ Panda

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IMO lawsuits aren't even worth it. I helped the school I go to by helping them not upgrade their old computers to 10. Family didn't upgrade too without any trouble getting away from it. Windows 10 is a much more secure OS than 7 IMO as well. ;P

Just my thoughts on the subject!
 

Amelith Nargothrond

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IMO lawsuits aren't even worth it. I helped the school I go to by helping them not upgrade their old computers to 10. Family didn't upgrade too without any trouble getting away from it. Windows 10 is a much more secure OS than 7 IMO as well. ;P

Just my thoughts on the subject!

So it wasn't that difficult to get rid of the pesky little upgrade pop-up. I usually advised people to uninstall KB3035583.
 
D

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  1. Free is subjective. Sure, you're getting a whole new operating system for free but you're now paying for it with your data. Microsoft sucks up an absolute crap ton of data when you accept the default settings (so much so that the French government intervened and forced Microsoft to stop collecting data on French citizens), sells that data to advertisers and then sticks targeted ads here and there. Ads are now also starting to make their way into the actual UI of Windows 10 and the options to turn off all this data collection and said ads are buried deep in the settings. .
What datas ? your docs? your works? your financial records? give me an answer with proofs showing that, then i will believe you. However, if they collect other things than that, i don't care.
There is a difference between telemetry and spying but of course noobs don't even know what means telemetry...

MS doesn't even care about people using pirated MS products, do you seriously believe they collect your datas for some evil plan, all this is just another FUD made by idiot privacy paranoids (using Android by the way, rofl) .
 
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Amelith Nargothrond

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What datas ? your docs? your works? your financial records? give me an answer with proofs showing that, then i will believe you. However, if they collect other things than that, i don't care.
There is a difference between telemetry and spying but of course noobs don't even know what means telemetry...

MS doesn't even care about people using pirated MS products, do you seriously believe they collect your datas for some evil plan, all this is just another FUD made by idiot privacy paranoids (using Android by the way, rofl) .

I think he was talking about personal data :p Anyway, perception of people nowadays about "call home" functionality in products is really so messed up that everybody thinks everything is a conspiracy to take over the world. Combine this with the naivety, the "herd effect" and the ability of failing to verify everything is on the internet, add a little freedom and let people sue everybody for anything, and there you go...
 
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I'm sure some people truly believe that in some MS centers, there is an army of people behind small screens picking randomly people and say "who will i spy today?....ummmmm...let's go for this grandma, maybe i will catch some secret cooking recipe !!!"
Really?!!! :D
 
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Arequire

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What datas ? your docs? your works? your financial records? give me an answer with proofs showing that, then i will believe you. However, if they collect other things than that, i don't care.
There is a difference between telemetry and spying but of course noobs don't even know what means telemetry...

MS doesn't even care about people using pirated MS products, do you seriously believe they collect your datas for some evil plan, all this is just another FUD made by idiot privacy paranoids (using Android by the way, rofl) .
I went through their whole privacy policy and Windows 10 settings and here's what they collect if you accept the express install option:
  • Contacts
  • Calendar details
  • Snippets of what you type to improve predictions
  • Mobile number if connected to Skype
  • Location/Location history (allowed to be used by any app by default)
  • Wifi name and password and wifi name/password of contacts
  • Browsing history
  • Typed/Spoken searches to Cortana
  • Language
  • Diagnostic/Telemetry data
When I say data, I'm not talking about files on your PC. If Microsoft wanted those I'm betting they'd be able to get them. It's this so-called "non-personal" data that I'm talking about; the stuff they sell to advertisers who then use this data for who-knows-what. Sure, they target ads towards you but they also conduct data mining on this information that pushes it further and further towards personal information.
It all boils down to what you consider personal or non-personal information. I consider pretty much everything there besides language and diagnostic/telemetry to be personal information and feel Microsoft shouldn't have access to it all just because I use their OS. Oh and since I refused the free upgrade I'll be paying for that OS so the excuse of "you got Windows 10 for free so we're entitled to collect and make money off this information" doesn't hold water with me.
 

Amelith Nargothrond

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I'm sure some people truly believe that in some MS centers, there is an army of people behind small screens picking randomly people and say "who will i spy today?....ummmmm...let's go for this grandma, maybe i will catch some secret cooking recipe !!!"
Really?!!! :D

The abuse in collecting data exists, that's for sure. But it's also sure that people don't care in verifying what they are reading. It's much more comfortable to "believe" in some guru who probably got drunk and woke up with a big headache and a bad attitude, than to spend hours to verify the source. I get it, there's a lot of work involved, time is precious and we can't spend all they and night doing this. But at least shut up if you didn't do this. Trust but verify. Then talk.
 
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