This is easily Microsoft's most annoying attempt to get YOU to upgrade to Windows 10

Microsoft has become increasingly aggressive with its Windows 10 upgrade pop-ups and ads

 

MICROSOFT has upped the ante to push people to upgrade to its latest operating system, Windows 10.

Microsoft has already announced it will re-categorise its free operating system upgrade as a "recommended update", meaning it will start to install automatically on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 machines – without input from the user.

But now a new pop-up message has been outed by a Reddit user.

The new advert, which appears on Windows 7 and Windows 8 desktop machines, appears to remove the ability to opt-out of the compliemtary OS upgrade.

Instead the Windows 10 notification offers two dialogue boxes, with the options – "Update Now" or "Update Tonight".

Closing the pop-up from the top right-hand corner will make the upgrade offer go away – but placing the "Update Tonight" option in the position you'd expect to find a "Cancel" option seems a little misleading and could easily trip-up skim-readers and the less tech-savvie.

View post on imgur.com

In fact, these pop-ups and adverts for Windows 10 are becoming so frequent and frustrating for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users that a software engineer has built a small app to block them.

Josh Mayfield is the creator of an app called GWX Control Panel – which blocks the 'Get Windows 10' pop-ups Microsoft quietly installed on every consumer and small business version of Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs.

GWX Control Panel works by disabling the AllowOSUpgrade setting buried within Windows – but its creator now believes Microsoft has found a way to fight back.

 

"Over Thanksgiving weekend I started getting reports that the Windows Update ‘AllowOSUpgrade’ setting was getting flipped back on on a number of peoples’ PCs," he revealed in an interview with PC World.

"It keeps re-setting itself at least once a day if they switch it back off. This is new behaviour, and it does leave your PC vulnerable to unwanted Windows 10 upgrade behaviour."

Windows Update was last week refreshed for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users. Many GWX Control Panel customers reported that their machines had been switched from a “do-not-upgrade-to-Windows-10” status to “do-upgrade” within the settings. This change can reportedly occur multiple times a day, according to users.

Fortunately, Microsoft will never complete a Windows 10 installation without input from the PC or tablet owner. So you'll never open your laptop lid to find your computer has a new operating system.

 

Microsoft currently advertises its new operating system in a series of pop-up adverts

 

And if you do accidentally accept an upgrade, Windows 10 installations can be rolled back – a feature that prevented many from upgrading to the November Update when it was released.

"Depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device," Terry Myerson, executive Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group, posted in a blog.

"Of course, if you choose to upgrade (our recommendation!), then you will have 31 days to roll back to your previous Windows version if you don’t love it."

 

Software engineer Josh Mayfield built an app dedicated to stopping Windows 10 upgrades

 

Microsoft has previously stated an ambition to get one billion devices across the globe running Windows 10 within two years of the operating system's release.

But the new OS has not been without issues.

Users have reported infuriatingly slow boot-up speeds, trouble with wifi connections, privacy concerns and issues with child safety features following the jump to Windows 10.

 

Windows 10 is currently a free operating system upgrade to customers running genuine versions of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

If you have managed to get your version of Windows 10 up and running smoothly – NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com has rounded up SEVEN top tips to master your new operating system.

And if you are feeling negative towards the new operating system, here are the WORST features Microsoft included in Windows 10.