Woman wins $10k after Microsoft forces Windows 10 upgrade

Since releasing Windows 10 last year, Microsoft has been pretty aggressive about getting people to upgrade, even going so far as forcing updates without user authorization. For one woman in Sausalito, Calif., Microsoft’s devious tactics led to a nice little payday.

Microsoft apparently tried updating the woman’s computer to Windows 10 without authorization and in the process somehow messed things up. Because she uses her computer to run her business, this meant putting her livelihood on hold, which led to lost wages and a boinked computer.

The Seattle Times has more:

When outreach to Microsoft’s customer support didn’t fix the issue, [Teri Goldestein] took the software giant to court, seeking compensation for lost wages and the cost of a new computer.

She won. Last month, Microsoft dropped an appeal and Goldstein collected a $10,000 judgement from the company.

The company denies wrongdoing, and a spokeswoman said Microsoft halted its appeal to avoid the expense of further litigation.

Released in July 2015, Microsoft offers Windows 10 as a free upgrade to those using older versions of its desktop software; it’s only free for one year, however, ending on July 29. There have been a lot of reports about Windows computers spontaneously upgrading despite no authorization from a user and this is just the latest piece of bad press.

For its part, Microsoft said it does not force users to upgrade and instead requires someone to click on a dialogue box before the update process begins.