Is it possible? Malware from Microsoft? Computer users running an older version of Windows, which is still supported by Microsoft, have been trying lately to stop the Get Windows 10 application that wants to upgrade their system to Windows 10.
Those who liked the idea of a free upgrade to Windows 10 have already upgraded their systems, while the rest are waiting for the offer to expire to stop their problems.
It should be noted here that the end of the offer is not something we should take for granted, as Microsoft continues to want to install its new operating system on as many systems as possible, in order to reach the overly optimistic goal of 1 billion devices with Windows 10 by 2017.
Microsoft has so far implemented several tactics to promote the new operating system on systems running Windows 7 and 8, regardless of whether the upgrade was rejected once or even more times by the user.
In addition to this pressure to upgrade, Microsoft has made many changes to the appearance and functionality of the Get Windows 10 app.
So in addition to the glaring absence of update rejection options in the program's interface, Microsoft is reportedly using adware or even malware tactics to get users to upgrade to Windows 10.
It may sound strange, but the Get Windows 10 app has many malware characteristics.
Malware, according to Wikipedia, is “any software used to disrupt computer operations, gather sensitive information, gain access to private computer systems, or display unwanted advertisements.”
Here we should add that any software that forces the end user to do things they do not want to do, in order to benefit someone else, can be considered malicious. In this case, Microsoft benefits, of course.
A devil's advocate might say that the end user also benefits from the super duper operating system, but still: "I want the ancient Windows 7!"
So what do we call a program that runs on our system, we can't get rid of it completely, and which doesn't display a clear "no I don't want to upgrade" option?
We've already seen Get Windows 10 messages without any such option. At first, many thought things couldn't get any worse, but they quickly realized that this behavior wasn't Microsoft's fault, as the company had initially claimed.
Take a look at the screenshot below and find out how to cancel the upgrade process.
The main change compared to previous versions of Get Windows 10 is that the close button (x) no longer prevents the upgrade.
In fact, it just closes the window, but the upgrade is still scheduled if Never10 or GWX is not installed on the computer.
The problem with the above finding is that Microsoft intentionally modified the process to force more users to upgrade to Windows 10, even if they don't want to.
Does this look like malware to you?
