Like It Or Not, Microsoft Silently Downloads Windows 10, Grabbing Valuable Disk Space

Just when we thought that all the hoopla surrounding privacy in Windows 10 and questionable disclosure practices was starting to die down, Microsoft has to go and stir the pot once again with another seemingly overzealous move. It’s not enough that Windows 10 is installed on over 75 million PCs and counting; Microsoft is aiming for one billion installs within the next two to three years.

And to get to that one billion figure, Microsoft wants to entice customers to upgrade their Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines to Windows 10. Making the upgrade free during the first year of availability is a big factor in getting people to make the upgrade, but Microsoft is also wanting the upgrade process to proceed smoothly, minimizing any installation glitches and cutting down on download/install times for the operating system.

No need for this prompt, Microsoft will download Windows 10 without user intervention

It’s that last point that has Microsoft facing enormous heat this morning — even from diehard Microsoft supporters. As it stands now, customers are given the choice to install Windows 10 if they wish. Microsoft has a little pop-up that appears for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users that allows them to reserve their copy of Windows 10 and install at their leisure. If you choose to proceed with installing Windows 10, you enter in your email address and wait patiently for the download to proceed. It was assumed that if you didn’t want to install Windows 10, you could just ignore the prompt and go about your business without any further intrusion from Microsoft.

That isn’t the case, however, says The Inquirer. One of the publication’s observant readers discovered a massive $Windows.~BT folder on his machine despite the fact that he never gave Microsoft the “go ahead” to initiate the Windows 10 download/installation process.

The symptoms are repeated failed 'Upgrade to Windows 10' in the WU update history and a huge 3.5GB to 6GB hidden folder labelled '$Windows.~BT'. I thought Microsoft [said] this 'upgrade' was optional. If so, why is it being pushed out to so many computers where it wasn't reserved, and why does it try to install over and over again?
I know of two instances where people on metered connections went over their data cap for August because of this unwanted download. My own internet (slow DSL) was crawling for a week or so until I discovered this problem. In fact, that's what led me to it. Not only does it download, it tries to install every time the computer is booted.

Not cool, Microsoft, not cool at all. If this is true, sneakily downloading a multi-gigabyte operating system in the background without the customer’s express consent is rather bold, especially in an age when some customers may be on metered connections or simply don’t have the disk space to spare to accommodate a 6GB install. Microsoft has already come under fire for forced automatic updates in Windows 10, which have hit those with metered connections hard.

With that being said, what’s Microsoft position on all of this? How could the company possibly explain why it is forcing Windows 10 installation files on to customers’ computers without permission? Surely the company has a reasonable explanation for its actions? In a statement to The Register, a Microsoft spokesperson wrote:

For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they’ll need if they decide to upgrade.
When the upgrade is ready, the customer will be prompted to install Windows 10 on the device.

In Microsoft’s eyes, if you have agreed to automatic updates in Windows, it’s fair game to send Windows 10 down the pipe. Making Windows 10 freely available to a large portion of the Windows install base should be reason enough to get many customers to upgrade. The awesome new features in Windows 10 like Continuum, the return of the Start Menu, and even Xbox One game streaming are great reasons to upgrade to Windows 10. But let the customers choose when he or she is ready to commit to downloading a massive ISO — don’t make the choice for them on the chance that they might want to upgrade in the future.

I have tried a variety of operating systems, I keep coming back to Windows, jokes aside it works.

Windows 10, friends of mine have downloaded the beta versions of Windows 10 and told me how wonderful it was but I didn’t.

I have a couple of desktop computers that I use frequently, I sit at one most of the day at work, have one for me and my wife at home, I also use a large laptop and the Microsoft surface Pro 2, and oh I forgot a little Lenovo tablet that runs 8.1 full version. I like them all.

I spend most time at work in front of the Windows 7 and use the XP window that came with it. I do not yet know if that will work in 10, but I’ll find out before I convert to 10 on my workstation. But I have decided to convert on my surface, I did it two days ago.

The Microsoft surface Pro tablet is one very fine device, expensive but oh it is one fine machine. It will handle anything I throw at it including illustrator and Photoshop. When I hook it up to an external monitor keyboard mouse and hard drive it will compete with most high-end desktop computers. So, what do I think of 10 so far? I was annoyed when I reserved my copy of 10 and then found that Microsoft had downloaded the thing on my computer without ever asking. If I would’ve done just a cursory little bit of investigation I would’ve known then in advance, I should have and then I could have avoided the download had I wanted to. Mind you I thoroughly enjoyed Windows 8.1, I thought it was perfect for my tablets, very easy to get around in. I never, never turn my iPad on anymore. After watching the Windows 10 YouTube videos I had pretty much decided I wasn’t going to install it. I use a Samsung galaxy note 3 cell phone, it comes with Google voice and Samsung speech recognition program and they are both wonderful and very convenient, driving down the highway and there’s a conversation in the car you want to know the answer of, just double tap the button and ask Google voice and it comes back with an answer. After watching a couple of demonstrations of Microsoft Cortana I kept thinking about how nice that would be to have on a Windows machine. So now I have it, I like it.

After you install Windows 10 plan on spending some time tweaking it. I have the power cover on my Surface Pro 2 which increases my battery life by about 60% or so, I can usually get a pretty substantial ten-hour day from the surface when I need it. After installing 10 I was lucky to get three hours. The stock set up would never turn the processor off and turned every radio on the machine on all the time. After tweaking I think I’m back up past my 10 hours, I was able to run four hours last night and the battery display said 50% of the power cover was used and none of the internal battery was used, that made me very happy.

One thing disappointing about the surface Pro two has been boot time, it would often take 30 or 40 seconds just to boot up, now it takes less than 10 seconds.

So far I am thinking that my Windows 10 installation and I am going to get along very, very well.

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