Is upgrading to Win 10 to much of a risk?

BunnyJ · 10 Jul 2016

Mr Mag00 said:

I'm "handicapped," and taking my giant desktop computer in to the Microsoft store is an impossibility. I'm isolated and old. Even if as little as 12 computers has these kind of severe problems, I can't take the chance! A couple of people did say they would help me but then dropped the ball. I can't even leave my house right now because my power wheelchair is in the shop... and it's been there for months. If this stuff is more like loch ness monster sightings than real happenings, how can I know that? And what about the totally unbelievable forced upgrades??? I got that dialogue box, trying to do the upgrade on my computer but I used "Never 10" to hold the new OS at bey until I was ready to let it in. Now I don't think I wanna let it in 'til I understand what's happening!

Even in a best-case-scenario, I'm gonna have to do the install without the Windows magnifier. I can't see any text on my screen without the magnifier. I have a workaround but now with this new issue, I think I might have to hold off until things become much safer. It'll cost me a hundred buck... but that's much better than losing a $5000 computer. I was hoping somebody would say that a clean install had to be very safe, as long as it's done without the in place upgrade. But I just donno what to think. This is beyond the scope of my knowledge.

Update: Windows 10 upgrade bug makes some PCs unusable

Windows 10 Users May Pursue Class-action Against Microsoft - ValueWalk

Microsoft pays out $10,000 for forcing Windows 10 on California woman

Update: Windows 10 upgrade bug makes some PCs unusable

Given your situation I wouldn't bother upgrading.

Play it safe..

DavidE · 10 Jul 2016

No i can't supply a link.
No it was not a BIOS flash.
It was caused by a Partition Management program making Disk Structure changes.
Believe it or not, If something can go wrong, it will, ...
This is off-topic, let's drop it.

alphanumeric · 10 Jul 2016

There are overclocking utilities that I "think" can do that. But they are provided by the OEM who made the motherboard, as far as I know anyway. ASUS had one that I briefly played with years ago. My motherboard locked up and wouldn't post. No damage, I just had to reset BIOS to defaults. I quickly abandoned that utility. Anyway, its not something Windows would do all by itself on a stock install/upgrade.
The only time I've ever seen Windows alter a BIOS setting was when setting up a Windows To Go drive. It offers to reboot to that drive when your finished creating it to see if it works. I assume its altering the BIOS boot order. It only does it for that one boot anyway. Then goes back to defaults. I'm not even 100% sure it actually changes the BIOS boot order. It may just point the Windows boot loader to the drive that one time. The BIOS is proprietary so its basically a hands off as far as Microsoft is concerned.

alphanumeric · 10 Jul 2016

This is one of those topics that will illicit all kinds of "what ifs". It's just human nature to speculate.

Mr Mag00 · 10 Jul 2016

I donno. Ever since I got my system with Win 8 installed, something was different. Yucky! Right down to the pictures of flowers on my desktop! They actually look like MONSTERS!!!!!! :) And the new logo? They turned a nice graceful logo into a stiff depressing ugly "nothing!" :) My files continually disappear! I'm denied access to files! And Win 8.1 isn't much better. Right now, all my drawings are gone! Where the h_ _l are they? I can't believe the grass looks greener on the Mac side now!!!!!! If I didn't have to use the damned magnifier, I run to Linux! (And please don't suggest third party magnifiers. None of'em work for me.)

Anyway, unless I can find an explanation I can understand, I think I have to stick with Win 8.1 for now. I had hoped a clean install would mean I could avoid all this but I just donno enough here. Depressing.

Sorry. A company that forces you to upgrade, even though they know that really bad things could happen to "some" people, in my mind, is totally capable of not giving a crap if my life is ripped apart when my computer stops working, forcing me to watch TV 'til I kick the bucket. :)

COMPUTIAC · 10 Jul 2016

What happened to everything suggested in this thread you started June 2nd ?

Visually impaired and faced with the Win 10 install!

- Windows 10 Forums

NavyLCDR · 10 Jul 2016

It is called technophobia. Even if there were 1,000 documented and proven cases of Windows 10 physically destroying computers (which there isn't), there remains more than 349,999,000 devices not destroyed by Windows 10.

Mr Mag00 · 11 Jul 2016

I never heard of this kind of damage occurring from an upgrade. But if there was just ONE computer destroyed from the upgrade, that's too many. If it's yours, and you can't replace it because you don't have the money, how would you feel?

Mr Mag00 · 11 Jul 2016

What happened to everything suggested in this thread you started June 2nd ?

Nothing has changed with that. But since then, a lot of other stuff has happened. Because I have so many physical problems, maybe the only way I can feel safe at this point is to stay with yucky Win 8.1. :) No one's gonna drive my computer to the store for repairs, and who's gonna pay for a new hard drive if it's damaged? I certainly can't. This computer changed my whole life. I donno what I'll do if it gets destroyed. It's a top-of-the-line PC, about 3 years old. It was a gift. It handles anything I can throw at it. Really cool.

And I stoopidly trusted Microsoft! I always disliked MS but that forced install thing really changed how I see that company.

cereberus · 11 Jul 2016

Mr Mag00 said:

I plan to call her to try and get more info on this. Of course, software won't loosen the screws on your computer but I read that firmware can be corrupted, making certain components unusable. Power surges can occur. I'm not an expert here. That's why I came to this forum. I heard nothing about this 'til I saw the message about my friend. I plan to try and find out what really happened. A message said that she said that Microsoft told her she needed to buy a new CPU! I immediately thought that she did something wrong but after Googling, now I'm afraid to get Win 10. I thought that maybe if I did a clean install without doing the in place upgrade first, then maybe I'd be safe? My computer is all I have. If I lose it, I can't replace it. I'LL be toast.

I never heard of a computer being trashed by an upgrade. But now I'm hearing about it. I don't remember what words I used when I Googled the subject... but sometimes I found nothing. My computer cost a lot of money. It was a gift. I'm poor! If I lose it, everything in my life stops.

People were talking about a class action suit. But the EULA kinda messes up that idea I think... maybe except for the computers that were upgraded without permission of their owners, and destroyed, or crippled.

Do not confuse upgrade issues with hardware failure. You can protect against upgrade and drive failure using image backups.

Virtually nothing you can do against cpu or mobo failure other than replace failed component.

I can guarantee 99% of posts blaming Windows 10 for causing hardware failures stem from a lack of knowledge and bad user habits. Had it failed running Windows 7, would they blame Windows 7.

If it failed after say 6 months, would you blame Windows 10?

Basically, with 350+ million users, statistically some devices will fail shortly after installation - in short crap happens.

The key point is if it is going to fail, then not much you can do about it other than have a good data backup policy.

So stop worrying about something that you cannot control, and make image backup of current install, and upgrade.