Are you running Windows 7 or 8, but aren’t quite ready to upgrade to Windows 10? If you’re not careful, you could make the switch by simply OK-ing the latest bundle of Windows updates. The Windows 10 upgrade is appearing as a pre-checked, optional update for some users, Ars Technica reported Thursday.
The update will not install automatically, but if you don’t notice it among other updates, it’s quite easy to just click “OK” and poof: You’re running Windows 10.
This is on top of the fact that the Windows 10 installer tends to automatically download in the background on eligible systems. It’s not the end of the world, but since we’re talking about several gigabytes of data, it can lead to frustration if your system is low on space.
According to Microsoft, this was not on purpose.
“As part of our effort to bring Windows 10 to existing genuine Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 customers, the Windows 10 upgrade may appear as an optional update in the Windows Update (WU) control panel. (…) In the recent Windows update, this option was checked as default; this was a mistake and we are removing the check”, the company told Ars Technica.
Thanks, Microsoft. We all like a nice, easy, convenient update, but let us install it on our own time.