Microsoft Makes Windows 10 A Recommended Upgrade For Users Of Older Versions Of Windows

File this under things that really annoy me:

From Monday, Windows Update will start making the upgrade to version 10 of the operating system a recommended update, rather than an optional one, a spokesperson for the software giant confirmed.

So if you’ve got Windows Update set up to automatically fetch and install recommended items – and the vast majority of people do because it’s the default setting – expect to, well, download and install a few gigabytes of Windows 10.

I understand Microsoft’s position. Its getting tried of sinking resources into supporting older versions of its operating system. Moving more people to Windows 10 reduces the amount of resources it has to invest in older versions. At the same time, this makes my life difficult.

One of the simplest pieces of security advice that can be given is to tell users to turn on automatic updates. A lot of malware infections are the result of a user failing to apply the latest security patches for their operating system. Turning on automatic updates ensures the latest security patches are automatically downloaded and installed soon after they’re released.

But a lot of users don’t want to upgrade to Windows 10. By moving Windows 10 into the recommended updates category users with automatic updates turned on will, unless they jump through a few hoops, find themselves running Windows 10.

This is an awkward position for me because I feel as though I must continue recommending people use automatic updates but I don’t want to force them into using the latest version of Windows if they don’t want to.