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Bondows

Update 9/12/15: If this already happened to you, read How to delete Microsoft's unwanted Windows 10 download files. The original article continues below.

In the weeks since Windows 10 launched, the OS has been adopted at an unprecedented rate. Over 75 meg customers reportedly installed it within 30 days of debut, and that number is sure to have risen in the last few weeks. Microsoft has never rolled out an operating system the way information technology has pushed x to the mass market, then some mistakes were inevitable. The visitor's latest blunder? Downloading Windows 10 without asking.

Co-ordinate to the Inquirer, a user who had never "reserved" a copy of Windows x in the first place found a large 6GB download sitting in the $Windows.~BT subconscious directory, and a series of failed "Upgrade to Windows 10" tasks in Windows Update's history. In several cases, the new Bone has been downloaded over metered connections, forcing people over their bandwidth caps in the process. When the Inquirer reached out to Microsoft, the company said the following: "For individuals who take called to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, nosotros help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they'll need if they make up one's mind to upgrade.

"When the upgrade is ready, the client will be prompted to install Windows x on the device."

To prompt or non to prompt?

Nosotros at ET haven't seen this behavior direct — I'thou still on Windows 7 myself, and my Windows Update history shows no sign of repeated failed Windows 10 installs — but one of our staffers, David Cardinal, has had his ain unusual experience with Windows ten. According to David, he left on a 2-week trip with an HTPC box running Windows 8.1U and came back to find it running Windows 10. Windows Update was configured to install automatic updates, and Microsoft has flagged Windows ten as an important update — and then it's at least theoretically possible that the box automatically installed the new operating arrangement.

We're notwithstanding checking out whether this update was automatically triggered, but if it wasn't, it'south another example of how Microsoft congenital a system that shoves you forward into new operating systems whether you similar it or not. Every bit I mentioned above, I'one thousand yet using Windows 7. Every time I launch Internet Explorer, information technology defaults to loading MSN as a homepage. Every time it loads MSN, it slaps a giant imprint ad for Windows ten over the content.

Popups

What? You mean information technology's already out?

Immediately after Windows 10 launched, the pop-up was injecting itself every single fourth dimension I launched IE. At present, thankfully, it just launches afterwards a reboot or if IE has been shut down for several days. IE11 isn't my default browser, but I still use it for several tasks on a daily basis, and existence barraged with notifications and updates that my upgrade to Windows 10 is ready has apace get tiresome.

While I've written at length about the privacy and user control issues surrounding Windows ten, I still look to upgrade to the operating arrangement at some point in the non-as well-distant future. Role of my filibuster is practical — I want to swap some hardware before I upgrade, and that necessitates a few actress steps in the process. I'm too waiting to run into if MS amends certain policies around notifications and updates. For all that I desire DX12, running a background download on a potentially metered connection and chewing into bachelor storage space are both less-then friendly policies.