Microsoft is facing another class-action lawsuit for its upgrade practices related to Windows 10.
Multiple Illinois residents have sued Microsoft over its Windows 10 upgrade program. They allege the company’s invasive upgrade practices cost them time, money, and substantial inconvenience by forcing them to deal with various unhelpful Microsoft tech support options, upgrades that were installed without the user understanding that they had an option to avoid it, and in some cases, loss of data or hardware functionality resulting from compatibility issues that Microsoft’s Windows 10 upgrade wizard failed to detect.
The class-action lawsuit against Microsoft claims more than 100 members collectively seeking $5 million in damages excluding cost and interest. It’s not clear, however, if all of the lawsuit’s claims will stand up in court.
On the one hand, the suit documents issues that we’ve covered extensively ourselves, including Microsoft’s attempts to use dark patterns to trick consumers into upgrading to Windows 10, scheduling upgrades and in some cases triggering them without user input, and changing the entire way the stealth installation process was triggered by altering the meaning of the “X” box in the Get Windows 10 application.
Elsewhere, the suit delves into more questionable complaints. The suit claims “Allegedly the Windows 10 installer genie checks the consumer’s computer for compatibility; it does not, however, check the condition of the PC and whether or not the hard drive can withstand the stress of the Windows 10 installation.
