In August 2017 Microsoft started rolling out updates for Windows 10 for its upcoming upgrade. In doing so they have even rolled out some false updates. Another major update was released last week.
Three people in
Illinois have filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming that its Windows 10
update destroyed their data and damaged their computers.
The complaint [PDF], filed in Chicago's US District Court on
Thursday, charges that Microsoft Windows 10 is a defective product and that its
maker failed to provide adequate warning about the potential risks posed by
Windows 10 installation – specifically system stability and data loss.
Microsoft "failed to exercise reasonable care in designing,
formulating, and manufacturing the Windows 10 upgrade and placing it into the
stream of commerce," the complaint claims. "As a result of its
failure to exercise reasonable care, [the company] distributed an operating
system that was liable to cause loss of data or damage to hardware."
The attorneys representing the trio are seeking to have the case
certified as a class action that includes every person in the US who upgraded
to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and suffered data loss or damage to software or
hardware within 30 days of installation. They claim there are hundreds or
thousands of affected individuals.
The complaint enumerates a number of alleged problems with the way the
Windows 10 update presents itself to Windows users, noting that it "often
installs itself without any action being taken by the consumer."
Microsoft recently changed its Windows update behaviour to
allow for more user input. "Prior to the Creators Update, Windows 10 made
most of the decisions for you regarding when updates would be installed, and
didn't provide ways to tailor the timing to your specific needs," wrote
John Cable, director of program management in the Windows servicing and
delivery team in a blog post earlier this month.
"What we heard back most explicitly was that you want more control
over when Windows 10 installs updates."
According to the complaint, Windows 10 installed itself onto plaintiff
Stephanie Watson's computer without her consent and then erased data, some of
it related to her work. She hired Geek Squad to repair the machine, with only
partial success and ended up having to purchase a new computer.
Plaintiff Robert Saiger, the complaint says, consented to the Windows 10
update, only to have his computer stop functioning. He lost data, then lost
time and money, while incurring aggravation attempting to recover the data.
Plaintiff Howard Goldberg "elected to accept Windows 10 after
declining over 6 months of daily prompts requesting him to download it."
After three attempts to do so, the result was a non-functional computer and
lost data.
Last June, a California woman won $10,000 after a Windows 10
update disabled her PC. In September, UK-based consumer group Which? noted that
Windows 10 updates were being deployed without consent, despite Microsoft's
insistence that users have a say in the matter.
Microsoft was unable to comment at the time of publication.
Updates to add
Microsoft doesn't think much of the lawsuit. "The Windows 10 free
upgrade program was a choice designed to help people take advantage of the most
secure, and most productive Windows," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an
email to The Register. "Customers had the option not to
upgrade to Windows 10. If a customer who upgraded during the one year program
needed help with the upgrade experience, we had numerous options including free
customer support and 31-days to roll back to their old operating system. We
believe the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit."