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Customers took a stand against Windows 10’s aggressive upgrades – and won
Yahoo - Digital Trends ^ | December 03, 2016 | Kevin Parrish

Posted on 12/05/2016 5:51:23 AM PST by george76

Jesse Worley threatened to sue Microsoft. He’s not the first to take on the Redmond company, but his move to take legal action had a purpose. He wanted Microsoft to acknowledge that aggressively pushing the Windows 10 update was a problem. Customers weary of the Windows 8 disaster were unwilling to take the upgrade leap; Microsoft was, he reasoned, ignoring their fear of heights.

...

I’m an IT tech whose grandfather’s computer was updated through subterfuge, which made life harder for him and his caretakers until it was fixed

...

Privacy advocates dislike it, as Microsoft collects data such as voice input, text input, website history, and more. There are ways to limit the personal information Microsoft receives, but these steps likely aren’t known by the average Joe. The growing privacy concerns have called out security experts, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and even France’s National Data Protection Commission.

Is this data-mining the fuel that powered Microsoft’s aggressive Windows 10 upgrade program?

...

The tactics Microsoft employed to get users of earlier versions of Windows to upgrade to Windows 10 went from annoying to downright malicious,” the EFF said in August. “Some highlights: Microsoft installed an app in users’ system trays advertising the free upgrade to Windows 10. The app couldn’t be easily hidden or removed, but some enterprising users figured out a way. Then, the company kept changing the app and bundling it into various security patches, creating a cat-and-mouse game to uninstall it

...

As Worley pointed out in his email, he’s likely not the only one who suffered from Microsoft’s seemingly malicious upgrade scheme.

(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: datamining; microsoft; windows; windows10; windowspinglist
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To: ConservativeMind

I downloaded the XFCE and KDE versions of Mint 18 the other day to try them out in a VM. Will probably update my desktop in January from 17.3. Haven’t decided which version I’ll be going with yet. Both look pretty clean, and run a bit faster than 17.3.


41 posted on 12/05/2016 7:48:58 AM PST by zeugma (I'm going to get fat from all this schadenfreude)
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To: jaydubya2

Microsoft has admitted that the upgrade pop-up window was misleading, and customers who faced the Windows 10 upgrade beast and failed can strike back. Worley did so and received $650. He wanted Microsoft to pay him for his time and donate to any Alzheimer’s charity, but the company only agreed to pay for his time,

Worley isn’t the only individual who has gone after Microsoft over its Windows 10 upgrade tactics. California travel agent Teri Goldstein sued Microsoft in small claims court in June and won $10,000. She didn’t authorize the update, and the install failed. After that her computer, which she uses to manage her business, was unusable. Microsoft couldn’t fix the PC, so she went to small claims court instead.

https://feedeer.com/articles/how-customers-took-a-stand-against-microsoft-and-won?url=http:%2F%2Fwww.digitaltrends.com%2Fcomputing%2Fhow-customers-took-a-stand-against-microsoft-and-won%2F


42 posted on 12/05/2016 7:50:47 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

Cost me over $7500 in forced software upgrades. F MS. Except I’m stuck using their garbage due to my software requirements.


43 posted on 12/05/2016 8:07:02 AM PST by Organic Panic (Gentrification in America. Rich White Man Evicts Poor Black Family - MSNBCPBSCNNNYTABC)
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To: cymbeline
will block internet traffic that big brother uses to snoop on us.

The company I worked for, had NO connection to the internet for Finance! The USB ports were filled with hot glue!And some of the keys too!

Not a mega corp, <200.

44 posted on 12/05/2016 8:09:45 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT
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To: angryoldfatman
Then there’s the interface. I swear to you, if I have to drop to a search line ...
Have you tried Classic Shell? It's free.
http://www.classicshell.net/
45 posted on 12/05/2016 8:19:02 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: TomGuy

Flash needs to die. On my iPad and Mac, I get along fine without flash. And if some site insists, then I don’t bother with that site.


46 posted on 12/05/2016 8:33:52 AM PST by AFreeBird (BEST. ELECTION. EVER!)
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To: BoomerBill

I’ve been happy with my XP machine. But I can’t run TurboTax on it any more, so was time for an upgrade. I went iMac. I’ve had it for less than a week, but like it so far.


47 posted on 12/05/2016 9:15:02 AM PST by Rio (Deplorable-American)
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To: AFreeBird
Flash needs to die.

Maybe so, but I still access some websites that REQUIRE it.


48 posted on 12/05/2016 9:29:47 AM PST by TomGuy
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To: Bushbacker1
Never had a problem when I had XP or 7. But, ever since I started using Windows 10, nothing but problems with scammers and ransomeware! Had to pay twice to get the sh*t removed!

Same here.

My Windows 10 eats up my bandwidth big time.
Windows XP worked fine.
TWB

49 posted on 12/05/2016 10:30:26 AM PST by TWhiteBear
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To: george76

involuntary or adhesion contract data mining should be illegal.

Car sellers are not allowed to modify warrenties at the 11:59th hour. There must always be a way to turn off any data mining.


50 posted on 12/05/2016 10:38:24 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: george76

I had to remove Windows 10 due to their anniversary update.
The Start button was no longer clickable. You could not right click on any program button on the taskbar.

Prior to this I was not able to get to several websites I could before. I tried all the fixes offered but the only one that worked was a complete format and install of Windows 10. A temporary fix. Temporary!

A Windows refresh would remove all my own programs and leave theirs that were the cause of the issue (Cortana)....! After 3 times of doing a clean reinstall and having the issue come back I went back to Windows 7. A KNOWN issue too since the beta and Microsoft will never ever fix the issue.

Add to this the change in the look of Windows like the Start menu.
Very angry at that outsourced Microsoft CEO and those like him who think THEY own the software and my hardware.

Hours and hours wasted because of their integrating Cortana so they can spy on you.


51 posted on 12/05/2016 11:11:44 AM PST by minnesota_bound
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To: TomGuy

Is it a public site you can share?


52 posted on 12/05/2016 11:21:00 AM PST by AFreeBird (BEST. ELECTION. EVER!)
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To: AFreeBird

One site I my cable company’s online streaming TV.

I get a ‘needs Flash updated’ error in the Chromium and FireFox browsers.

The cable company online streaming TV works in most Windows browsers. They seem to no longer support IE, however.


53 posted on 12/05/2016 11:34:24 AM PST by TomGuy
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To: ConservativeMind

Our library and college went to Windows 10. Nothing but one big clusterf*&k so far. Printers that won’t print because the drivers won’t stay installed or get corrupted. Computers that outright lose the printers entirely. Windows 10 is the new Windows 98 a total POS!


54 posted on 12/05/2016 12:04:43 PM PST by sarge83
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To: TomGuy

If your browser allows you to specify a user agent; try using mobile instead of desktop.


55 posted on 12/05/2016 12:14:38 PM PST by AFreeBird (BEST. ELECTION. EVER!)
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To: proxy_user

Thank you very much for your help. I’m sure the future holds more questions.


56 posted on 12/07/2016 11:57:24 AM PST by BoomerBill (Keep America beautiful - deport a liberal.)
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To: Bushbacker1

Thank you. Great to be here.


57 posted on 12/07/2016 11:57:24 AM PST by BoomerBill (Keep America beautiful - deport a liberal.)
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