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'Windows 10 destroyed our data!' Microsoft hauled into US court (Win10 update suit filed)
The Register ^ | Mar 24, 2017 | Thomas Claburn

Posted on 03/26/2017 8:29:32 AM PDT by dayglored

'Dodgy' unwanted operating system update sparks potential class-action lawsuit

Updated Three people in Illinois have filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming that its Windows 10 update destroyed their data and damaged their computers.

The complaint [PDF], filed in Chicago's US District Court on Thursday, charges that Microsoft Windows 10 is a defective product and that its maker failed to provide adequate warning about the potential risks posed by Windows 10 installation – specifically system stability and data loss.

Microsoft "failed to exercise reasonable care in designing, formulating, and manufacturing the Windows 10 upgrade and placing it into the stream of commerce," the complaint claims. "As a result of its failure to exercise reasonable care, [the company] distributed an operating system that was liable to cause loss of data or damage to hardware."

The attorneys representing the trio are seeking to have the case certified as a class action that includes every person in the US who upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and suffered data loss or damage to software or hardware within 30 days of installation. They claim there are hundreds or thousands of affected individuals.

The complaint enumerates a number of alleged problems with the way the Windows 10 update presents itself to Windows users, noting that it "often installs itself without any action being taken by the consumer."

Microsoft recently changed its Windows update behavior to allow for more user input. "Prior to the Creators Update, Windows 10 made most of the decisions for you regarding when updates would be installed, and didn't provide ways to tailor the timing to your specific needs," wrote John Cable, director of program management in the Windows servicing and delivery team in a blog post earlier this month.

"What we heard back most explicitly was that you want more control over when Windows 10 installs updates."

According to the complaint, Windows 10 installed itself onto plaintiff Stephanie Watson's computer without her consent and then erased data, some of it related to her work. She hired Geek Squad to repair the machine, with only partial success, and ended up having to purchase a new computer.

Plaintiff Robert Saiger, the complaint says, consented to the Windows 10 update, only to have his computer stop functioning. He lost data, then lost time and money, while incurring aggravation attempting to recover the data.

Plaintiff Howard Goldberg "elected to accept Windows 10 after declining over 6 months of daily prompts requesting him to download it." After three attempts to do so, the result was a non-functional computer and lost data.

Last June, a California woman won $10,000 after a Windows 10 update disabled her PC. In September, UK-based consumer group Which? noted that Windows 10 updates were being deployed without consent, despite Microsoft's insistence that users have a say in the matter.

Microsoft was unable to comment at time of publication. ®

Updated to add

Microsoft doesn't think much of the lawsuit. "The Windows 10 free upgrade program was a choice designed to help people take advantage of the most secure, and most productive Windows," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email to The Register. "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."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: microsoft; windows10; windowspinglist; windowsupgrade
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Seems to me like this suit is a bit past its prime time. A huge number of people have now upgraded to Windows 10 with generally -- though far from universally -- good results. There will always be some percentage of individual cases where it blew up in people's faces, and some percentage of those will complain in court.

While there is, indeed, merit to their argument (IMO), they had better get 10's of thousands, not a few hundred, people to sign up for the class action suit, or else it's going nowhere.

1 posted on 03/26/2017 8:29:33 AM PDT by dayglored
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To: Abby4116; afraidfortherepublic; aft_lizard; AF_Blue; amigatec; AppyPappy; arnoldc1; ATOMIC_PUNK; ...
Windows 10 Update bring lawsuit over lost data... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

2 posted on 03/26/2017 8:30:23 AM PDT by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
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To: dayglored

3 posted on 03/26/2017 8:35:18 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: dayglored

No backups?


4 posted on 03/26/2017 8:35:46 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Windows 10 is watching like a peeping tom because there’s intel inside!


5 posted on 03/26/2017 8:36:34 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: dayglored
Posted yesterday:

Windows 10 - Quietly Logging EVERY KEYSTROKE You Type And Sending It To Microsoft (How To Stop It)

6 posted on 03/26/2017 8:36:43 AM PDT by blam
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To: dayglored

Windows 10 has been pretty stable for me. Although I had a recent issue with sleep mode (lazy SOB refused to wake up - lol). Lot better than Win 8, although that’s not saying much. Loved Win 7. And of course Win XP.


7 posted on 03/26/2017 8:38:20 AM PDT by nhwingut (Trump Pence 16 - Blow Up DC)
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To: dayglored

My upgrade to Window’s 10 did not affect any data that I know of.

It was pretty smooth, and I don’t regret it.

However, if someone did lose data as a result of switching to 10, and it was important business related data, then I expect that Microsoft is responsible for that.

But class action law suits are worthless to everyone except the lawyers.

After 11 years, I finally got a notice about receiving payment for the Hurricane Katrina lawsuit.

229 bucks, baby WOOOOOOO!!!!!

That windfall is going to allow me to fund 75% of a new pair of inline skates... and a new house!

Well not so much a new house.

And I don’t have the money in hand yet.


8 posted on 03/26/2017 8:39:37 AM PDT by chris37 (Donald J. Trump, Tom Brady, The Patriots... American Destiny!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Why MICROSOFT Force Installs Software Without Permission
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXTWCqTRIag

Stop Microsoft Windows 10 Spying & Forced Application Installs. How to Take Back Control of Your PC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgKJMsJ-6XU

Prevent Windows 10 Spying - Privacy & Security Matter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1kGMCfb2xw


9 posted on 03/26/2017 8:40:38 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: dayglored
I'm not eligible for inclusion in such a class action suit since the only auto-upgrade I suffered was on a test VM and I lost no data but I hope that they prevail.

"Customers had the option not to upgrade to Windows 10.

The screenshot says otherwise. It allowed no option to quit the upgrade process, only a slight say in when it would happen.

10 posted on 03/26/2017 8:40:51 AM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Microsoft Drops Windows 7/8.1 Support for AMD Ryzen & Intel Kaby Lake CPU & Lies About It - BUSTED!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5mFI9spp10


11 posted on 03/26/2017 8:42:11 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: dayglored

yep ,Oh My ,yawn


12 posted on 03/26/2017 8:42:37 AM PDT by butlerweave
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To: dayglored

Contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiffs. Anyone who consents to a major upgrade and does not back up their programs and data before proceeding cannot recover for damage to their programs and data. MS is right about this one.


13 posted on 03/26/2017 8:53:37 AM PDT by KevinB (Barack Obama: The best example in history of the dangers of affirmative action!)
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To: dayglored

I disabled updates on my 7 machine because I don’t know which ones might be the 10 upgrade.


14 posted on 03/26/2017 8:53:42 AM PDT by MileHi (Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
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To: dayglored

15 posted on 03/26/2017 8:57:02 AM PDT by bigbob
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To: dayglored

[[”What we heard back most explicitly was that you want more control over when Windows 10 installs updates.”]]

No- what you heard ‘most explicitly’ was that users wanted compelled control over updates- not ‘more control’ - we want to be able to choose whether we install an update or not- giving us a ‘choice’ to delay installing updates, with no control over deciding not to install it if we choose- is not what we were asking for-

And the comments you defiantly heard ‘most explicitly’ were requests to stop the idiotic spyware/phone home crap-

Are Ya listening MS?


16 posted on 03/26/2017 9:00:01 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: MileHi

they don’t force it any longer i beleive-


17 posted on 03/26/2017 9:00:51 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: dayglored

how does win10 whack the hardware ?


18 posted on 03/26/2017 9:02:18 AM PDT by stylin19a (Terrorists - "just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there")
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To: dayglored

For some reason this inspired me to load Brave onto my Mac, it’s about a zillion times faster loading FR than Firefox. So far so good...


19 posted on 03/26/2017 9:06:31 AM PDT by null and void (Drain the swamp! Get rid of the mosque-itoes!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Jack- you can stop most of the spyware crap- but not all of it- even when everything is turned off- Windows is still phoning home on you- There are some settings you can’t turn off- and some setting you can, but they get changed again on next update-

windows 10 sucks


20 posted on 03/26/2017 9:08:52 AM PDT by Bob434
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