Microsoft revealed last year that it was planning to be more aggressive with its Windows 10 upgrade plans for existing PCs. Starting this week, Microsoft is recategorizing Windows 10 as a "recommended update" in its Windows Update system. That means the Windows 10 upgrade process will download and start automatically on thousands of machines.

Windows 10 will automatically download if you're on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1

While the upgrade process starts automatically, existing Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users will have to choose whether they upgrade to Windows 10 or not. Windows 10 will automatically download and start the upgrade process, depending on your Windows Update settings, but you can opt out and not receive nagging prompts to update. Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users on a metered connection will have to turn off automatic updates to prevent the Windows 10 installer from downloading automatically.

Microsoft confirmed the change in a statement to The Verge. "As we shared in late October on the Windows Blog, we are committed to making it easy for our Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 customers to upgrade to Windows 10," says a Microsoft spokesperson. "We updated the upgrade experience today to help our customers, who previously reserved their upgrade, schedule a time for their upgrade to take place."

OldHat: I'm not sure that it's really people arguing that Windows 10 is BAD (though perhaps a bit nosy), so much as people are complaining that Microsoft is pushing it so aggressively.

meh, they could have chosen a more sensible approach, but they have their reasons. Personally I disable updates on getting a new pc: if it works, best not invite new ways to break it.
Then if I want to upgrade at a later date, it's my decision, and I chose the software I want on my device, as it should be. You should always review anything your computer wants to install, it's just good, safe practice.

+1 to that

I will upgrade my OS when *I* want to upgrade it. No company will make that decision on my behalf. My Windows 7 rig is perfectly set up for my current flight sims, and I see no reason to make such a big change as getting a completely new OS right now.

If there was a true alternative for Windows, I'd stop using it altogether. But unfortunately there is no such alternative for a flight sim fan.

AMEN to that!

I've written long winded screeds on this subject on other threads. The only "personal" in a personal computer anymore is that every bit of personal data that they can possible scrape from you machine and sell, they do.

If I had a webcam & microphone, I'd expect to see toilet paper ads in the browser after I came back from a bathroom break.