Furious user calls Microsoft "idiot" for allegedly automatically upgrading their Windows PC

Windows 10 official support ended last year in mid-October though the company still releases monthly security Patch Tuesday updates for it under the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. Without enrolling into the ESU program, the only way to remain supported is to upgrade to Windows 11.

A user, who had not yet upgraded as they were holding out on Windows 10, says that their system was being bombarded with upgrade request pop-ups and even though they claim they never explicitly accepted any of those requests, Microsoft allegedly automatically installed Windows 11 on their PC with an in-place upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 while they were away from their PC for half an hour taking a shower.

The naturally annoyed user has called Microsoft an "idiot" for the whole saga and also for the centrally designed Start menu they do not like. On their Reddit post they write:

"I'd been getting messages to upgrade to Windows 11 for the past month or two now, and each time, I decline. It's gotten to the point that I get random, frequent pop_ups asking to update, and "install update" options pop up right next to the shutdown/restart uptions.

Well, I made the mistake of going to take a shower with my PC on. Half an hour later, I come back tothis. Windows had automatically started installing the update. Now I'm sitting here staring at the Start button and all the open programs center-justified on the task bar and wondering what idiot thought that was a good idea."

While there are often legitimate reasons to be annoyed and irritated at Microsoft, it is difficult to be sure what exactly happened in this case. While Microsoft is known to nudge users to try and coax them into upgrading, Windows typically does not automatically install major feature updates if a user does not grant permission (excluding Patch Tuesday, which now seems to include new feature rollouts too).

As reported by Neowin last year, this change in upgrade behavior was introduced by Microsoft last year in July 2025 under the KB5001716. This is the very update responsible for all such nudges and frequent upgrade requests and pop-ups, and it is well known that Microsoft often installed this KB5001716 update without notifying users. It is perhaps possible that the pre-July version of the update remained on the user's PC, or perhaps it could also be a bug, which is quite common on Windows.

If you are on the same boat and don't want Microsoft to install updates automatically, try turning on the "Metered Connection" option for your Wi-Fi via the Internet adapter settings. Another option could also be to disable the "Windows Update" services entirely.

However, keep in mind that running a system which is not up to date is also very risky, especially if you spend a significant amount of your time online.

Source: djseifer (Reddit)