Microsoft updates Windows 10 regularly, whether you want this to happen or not, because the company now regards the system as a service rather than a product. Earlier this month (October 2018) Microsoft released Windows 10 Version 1809, but many people found that the upgrade process not only took a very long time, as usual, but also deleted their documents, pictures, and so on. Some customers had their data stored only on their computers, without any copies in ‘the cloud’, or traditional backups, so they simply lost it. Computer users should of course back up all their valuable information regularly, but a lot of them don’t, and weren’t expecting Microsoft of all companies to wreck their systems.
Once they realised that their initial release of Windows 10 Version 1809 was causing people serious data-loss problems, Microsoft soon stopped the roll-out of this disaster. The fact that the new software was obviously not tested properly shows a distinct lack of respect for the customers. Shortly after the problem became apparent, a variety of suggested recovery procedures were posted on the Internet, but they were complicated and not the kind of operations that an ordinary user should be expected to attempt. However, that just about sums up Microsoft’s general attitude. They get people into a mess by issuing updates that haven’t been properly tested, then leave them to do all the heavy lifting that’s required in order to (maybe) recover.
Perhaps one day Microsoft will respect the right of their customers to keep their Windows systems stable and predictable by declining updates. Forcing updates on customers who don’t want them isn’t acceptable. Systems that aren’t regularly updated may be more vulnerable than those that are, but it should surely be up to customers if and when they want to take that risk. Most people want to be in charge of their own computers.