Windows 10 to automatically download on your PC Those running updates will have it downloaded and will be prompted to install Published: 10/30/2015 at 4:56 PM
Not interested in installing Windows 10 on your computer after reading news reports indicating Microsoft will track your online behavior and save your search queries, private emails and contents of private folders, including photos?
Too bad. You may not be given much of a choice.
Microsoft’s Windows 10 is preparing to automatically download onto computers currently installed with Windows 7 or 8 – without the computer users’ knowledge, London’s Guardian reported.
According to the report, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will become a “recommended update” in 2016, and anyone who has automatic updates activated will have the new program installed automatically on their PC.
After it has downloaded, the Windows 10 installer will begin. At that point, users will need to actively cancel Windows 10.
That is, if they aren’t in the habit of just hitting “OK” when presented with a prompt, as many users often do.
In the meantime, until 2016, the Windows 10 upgrade will be considered “optional” and could still be downloaded if a user has the computer set to install automatic updates, which can be disabled.
“If you choose to upgrade (our recommendation!), then you will have 31 days to roll back to your previous version if you don’t love it,” said Terry Myerson, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices group.
Just weeks ago, Forbes reported Microsoft claimed an “accident” caused the downloads to begin installing on many computers without user permission.
As WND reported in August, a report from Newsweek warned: “From the moment an account is created, Microsoft begins watching. The company saves customers’ basic information – name, contact details, passwords, demographic data and credit card specifics.”
“But it also digs a bit deeper,” the report says.
“Other information Microsoft saves includes Bing search queries and conversations with the new digital personal assistant Cortana; contents of private communications such as email; websites and apps visited (including features accessed and length of time used); and contents of private folders,” the warning explains.
“Furthermore, ‘your typed and handwritten words’ are collected.’”
All of the warnings come from the company’s software privacy statement, which includes the statement that Microsoft collects information “to provide you a personalized user dictionary, help you type and write on your device with better character recognition, and provide you with text suggestions as you type or write.”
Alec Meer at the RockPaperShotgun blog warned it’s not something that should be ignored
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Sun Nov 08, 2015 4:56 pm
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