10 reasons not to move to Windows 10: Privacy, Security, and Advertising...
Computing explains why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet, or perhaps ever
Microsoft's offer/incessant demand to users of Windows Vista, 7, 8/8.1 to upgrade for free to Windows 10 will soon expire, leaving latecomers with little option but to break out their credit cards.
Many have already made the move. The firm revealed at the Build conference recently that 270 million machines have already upgraded, some perhaps not by choice.
But that still leaves millions more yet to update. So assuming you haven't already done so, either consciously or by accident, perhaps you're thinking now's the time? Well, maybe, maybe not. Here's 10 reasons why you should hold off on that Windows 10 update, for now at least.
10. Drivers
This is the perennial 'will they, won't they?' question when upgrading any new operating system, providing a frisson of excitement when it hopefully restarts to present you with a nice, shiny, new operating system. Or not.
Video drivers will invariably be the number one 'pain point', followed by drivers for printers and scanners. Users have also reported mouse and sound card compatibility problems and Wi-Fi drivers not working.
So, if you really must update to Windows 10 at least do some thorough research on all the hardware involved because you may not be able to use that peripheral again.
10 reasons not to move to Windows 10: Privacy, Security, and Advertising...
Computing explains why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet, or perhaps ever
9. Compatibility concerns
It's not just drivers. There will always be programs that don't work on an upgraded system, and Sod's Law dictates that the titles that won't work will be the ones you need the most, or the ones you want to use right now.
One big source of problems is with drivers for aging graphics cards, which will predominantly affect games, but some older heavyweight applications may struggle too. Old versions of Microsoft Office with third-party add-ons may need to be run in compatibility mode.
Adobe CS3-series software is also known to have compatibility problems. Workarounds exist for some software, but why waste time upgrading to Windows 10 unless it offers substantial benefits?
10 reasons not to move to Windows 10: Privacy, Security, and Advertising...
Computing explains why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet, or perhaps ever
8. Remote deletion of data
Wait, what? OK, this is currently a hazy area, but when the Microsoft Services Agreement (MSA) was updated last year it seemed to indicate that the firm planned to take action against pirated software found on users' PCs.
"Sometimes you'll need software updates to keep using the Services. We may automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorised hardware peripheral devices," read the passage.
The tabloid press had a field day after widespread fears that Microsoft planned to remotely scan users' machines and expunge any software it didn't like the look of. And if you think a big, reputable company would not stoop to that level, think again.
To be fair, the MSA is not the same as the EULA, but Microsoft has been rigorous in its battle against piracy on the Xbox games platform. Is it planning to extend the theatre of operations to the PC platform too?
10 reasons not to move to Windows 10: Privacy, Security, and Advertising...
Computing explains why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet, or perhaps ever
7. Unwanted advertising
Way back in the dark days of dial-up internet in the 1990s, one company came up with a genius* business model: they would offer a ho-hummer of a Compaq PC absolutely free, together with free internet access, but in return the user would have to put up with a non-stop barrage of advertising on both sides of the screen. Free-PC was soon bought out by eMachines and the idea was subjected to a mercy killing.
However, many people might have suspected that something similar was afoot at Microsoft when they turned on their Windows 10 PCs in February to be greeted by an advert for Square Enix's Rise of the Tomb Raider on the log-in screen.
If you'd ever wondered how Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella proposed making money from an operating system that has been given away to tens of millions of people, look no further.
We should point out that you can turn the ads off in yet another of Windows 10's privacy options: just look for the Windows Spotlight under Personalisation and turn the damn thing off.
*idiotic
10 reasons not to move to Windows 10: Privacy, Security, and Advertising...
Computing explains why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet, or perhaps ever
6. The Windows Store - access only to those deemed worthy
The Windows Store that debuted in Windows 8 didn't impress anyone, even giving Valve Software's Gabe Newell the heebie-jeebies. Today, it's a better stocked emporium and set to get even better with the merger of the Xbox One app store with the Windows Store. But is this necessarily a good thing?
Newell's not unjustifiable fear was that a Microsoft-controlled Windows Store had the potential to shut down Windows as an open platform. Microsoft would act as the gatekeeper to Windows, giving the thumbs up or down to software titles accordingly. Microsoft Office? Thumbs up, obviously. Libre Office? Thumbs down. Steam? Definitely thumbs down.
It also brings closer a fragmented world of computing coalesced into three dominant platforms almost entirely controlled by Microsoft, Apple and Google.
10 reasons not to move to Windows 10: Privacy, Security, and Advertising...
Computing explains why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet, or perhaps ever
5. Mystifying Windows error messages - same as it always was
Crashes are thankfully a lot less common than they were in the past, but there's nothing more calculated to turn the not inconsiderable annoyance of a systems or program crash into a spittle-flecked outbreak of coarse Anglo Saxon than an error message that requires Google* to find out what it means.
Unfortunately, these still haven't all been expunged in Windows 10, and many people have experienced Error 1935 notifications when installing applications.
Worse than that, perhaps, is the 'Something happened' error message that many early adopters experienced during set-up. Microsoft is now dabbling in artificial intelligence, so the least it could do is provide error messages for its own operating systems in plain English.
*other search engines are available
10 reasons not to move to Windows 10: Privacy, Security, and Advertising...
Computing explains why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet, or perhaps ever
4. Roll back option comes with caveats
Don't like Windows 10? Microsoft gives you 31 days in which you can roll back your machine to the way it was before.
"If for some reason you install it and you want to roll back, for 31 days, it's literally a couple of clicks and you're back, because we kept the state of the machine prior," said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's corporate vice president of the Windows and Devices group.
"In our minds we want you to choose it and to love it, but if you don't, to be able to go back easily."
Which is nice. Except that you need at least 25 per cent spare capacity on your hard drive or it simply can't be done and you're stuck with Windows 10.
10 reasons not to move to Windows 10: Privacy, Security, and Advertising...
Computing explains why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet, or perhaps ever
3. Automatic patching
Some, such as Taylor Swift's security-focused Twitter alter ego, @swiftonsecurity, argue that, like mass inoculation, this will work for the greater good as all the world's idiots are forced to install security patches whether they like it or not.
However, anyone who's had to recover a system after a Windows Update has crippled their machine may well recoil in horror.
Furthermore, with many recent updates for Windows 7 forcing unwanted features onto users, such as Windows 10 itself, is this something you really want?
This comes at the same time that Microsoft has decided that it doesn't need to explain exactly what its patches do, so if there are any patches you don't like the look of, there's nothing you can do.
10 reasons not to move to Windows 10: Privacy, Security, and Advertising...
Computing explains why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet, or perhaps ever
2. The business model - take all your data
Microsoft still hasn't explained how it plans to make money from an operating system that it has effectively priced at zero.
What we do know is that Windows 10 is set by default to glug down more information than any other desktop operating system has ever done before, and all you have is Microsoft's assurance that it won't misuse that data.
When asked what would happen after the company's free offer to existing Windows users runs out in July, Mehdi, told us: "It runs [until] 29 July and after that we're still figuring out the exact plans of what happens. We'll share that as we get closer."
10 reasons not to move to Windows 10: Privacy, Security, and Advertising...
Computing explains why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet, or perhaps ever
1. Privacy, or the lack thereof
Until Apple and Google came along with their data-slurping operating systems, many people would've bet that a company could never get away with tapping users' location data, browsing information and, well, information about pretty much anything they do online and on their devices.
But Microsoft is enthusiastically following where Apple and Google have led. Take a look at the privacy choices (all switched on by default) on a Windows 10 smartphone, and the level of data gathering is eye-opening.
Sure, you can untick all the choices, but how long before re-enabling those privacy options becomes a prerequisite for any application you may want to run?