With Windows 10 you have lost control of your PC : Micosoft control it and there isn't much you can do about it (except pay for a corporate edition). There were plenty of warnings beforehand about this, at least in technical forums. This would not be the first major fouled-up "upgrade" Microsoft have made to Win10.
I generally use Linux but run Windows 7 for some purposes and I turned off its updates a while ago in case Microsoft try to wreck my installations. They are desparate to get people off versions earlier than Win10. At least with Win7 you could cherry pick updates. Being unsupported in future is a risk, but I judge a lesser risk than Microsoft update foul-ups. I don't keep anything important on my Windows hard drives anyway, the important stuff is safely in the Linux areas where malware and Microsoft can't touch it.
Yes they are desperate to get people off the earlier versions, they were even offering free upgrades a while back. Really glad I didn't go for it!
I had one "update" for Win 7 that stopped me being able to open password protected Excel files. The password box wouldn't come up. I found out that the reason was that I was using a very old version of MS Office, and they wanted to sell me a newer one. Fortunately I was able to do a system-restore to get rid of the "update", then I turned off auto-updates and switched to Libre Office, which is free and will open all MS Office files.
I use a removable hard drive to back up anything important.
Colin I have the 2000 professional disc so if it did I would uninstall and then reinstall it, to be fair since I retired I don’t use it that much now but it is still useful too have,, I have had windows 10 for nigh on 2 years since windows did the free upgrade from 7 without asking me etc, however I haven’t had any problems but it took a bit of getting used too, I do still have the original windows 7 system disc so I suppose in theory I could revert back to 7 but highly unlikely I will
Windows did the upgrade without asking you? How did that happen? They kept on badgering me to upgrade, but I just ignored them, hence I am still using Win 7.
There is no way I'll switch to Win 10, as I have heard too much about it. I have used it, as it's on the computers at the hospital radio studio where I volunteer, but I don't like it. I never use the studio computers for my programme preparation, I always do it at home before I go.
In all probability I'll go over to Linux at some point.
Colin, I am not too sure, but at the time I turned on my computer first thing in the morning, had my breakfast, went to the computer a while later and windows 10 was installed, I had had offers to upgrade previously which I had chosen to ignore
Ooer! I didn't know they could do that, I find it very sinister! I think I would have converted it straight back though, or gone over to Linux. I don't like any company having that sort of control over my computer.
The "forced upgrade" to Windows 10 from 7 or 8 was a big issue in 2015 - 2016. There was (still is) some debate about whether the upgrade was forced or not (ie whether the user actually needed to click something, even if they did not understand what effect it would have). Experiences differed, even among IT experts, possibly because Microsoft were deliberately making them differ to make upgrade avoidance trickier.
Certainly Microsoft employed some dirty tricks; one was using the "X" in the top right corner of a notification box that an upgrade was ready. Users clicked the X to dismiss the notification (as per usual GUI behaviour) but the X actually initiated the installation.
Dr Zhivago interesting reading, I am one who had it automatically installed without my knowledge as previously posted, maybe I could sue them lol, my wife has also this year received the message saying her laptop running on windows 7 will no longer be supported from 2020, so we will run it until such time that it packs up, we will just make sure our virus protection is up to date, I have to say on a personal level I quite like windows 10 now although it took quite a bit of getting used too and finding my way around it.