Microsoft is facing a class-action lawsuit filed by a group of consumers who say a Windows 10 update caused them to lose their data and seriously damaged their hardware. Three Illinois residents are the lead plaintiffs in the case, which stems from the company’s efforts to push PC users into upgrading to the newest version of its operating system.
Microsoft sued for lost data
According to Courthouse News, the plaintiffs allege that Microsoft’s Windows 10 upgrade caused them to lose their data and/ or destroyed the hard drives in their computers. They claim they had to purchase new computers or pay someone to repair them because of the upgrade. More than 100 consumers are participating in the class-action lawsuit, which seeks punitive damages for any Illinois resident who lost their data or had to repair or replace their computer because of the upgrade.
Microsoft released Windows 10 in July 2015, and then for a year, it offered users of Windows 7 and 8 a free upgrade to Windows 10. After that, the company tried to start forcing consumers to upgrade their computers through aggressive tactics such as spammy ads on users’ PCs and blocking security updates on computers with Intel or AMD chips that are still running on Windows 7 or 8.1. Consumers’ battle with the company over Windows 10 has been well-documented, so this lawsuit shouldn’t come as a surprise.
In the current lawsuit, one of the arguments pertains to the Windows popups that appeared multiple times per day offering the free upgrades to Windows 10. Plaintiffs complain that the ads were too hard to uninstall and didn’t allow them to refuse the upgrade or keep the ads from popping up again. Some also said that Microsoft forced the Windows 10 upgrade onto their PCs without their authorization, and after the OS was installed, there was no way to roll back to the previous version.
Microsoft accused of forcing Windows 10 on some
Stephanie Watson is the lead plaintiff in the case, and she said she never chose to upgrade to Windows 10, and then when Microsoft forced the upgrade on her PC, she lost work-related data. She claims she had to pay for repairs, although they weren’t able to perform the repairs with “complete success,” so she bought a new computer. Robert Saiger, another plaintiff, decided to upgrade to the new OS but his other software stopped working after the upgrade.
Howard Goldberg, another plaintiff, said he only clicked to upgrade to Windows 10 after six months of clicking “no” on the daily popup ads on his machine. However, he said three attempts tied up his computer for long periods of time and ultimately, his PC was seriously damaged. He also alleges that he had to pay Microsoft to fix his computer.
The complaint alleges that while the Windows 10 installer checked the computer to see if it was compatible with the new OS, it did not check whether the hard drive would be able to withstand the upgrade or whether the third-party software that was already on the PC was compatible.
This Illinois case isn’t the first one related to the Windows 10 upgrade either, as Microsoft was sued last year for allegedly forcing upgrades on some PC users.
