Microsoft – stop it already with the shady tricks to push Windows 11 upgrades

Windows 11 upgrades are being pushed by Microsoft using some of the firm’s more unwelcome tactics (as seen with Windows 10), at least according to a new report.

Ghacks first flagged this up, as spotted by Neowin, the latter of which published a grab of a sneakily redesigned nag screen (that appears on boot-up) to prompt Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11. (Note that the screenshot was aired by a Reddit user, though the post has now been deleted – so take this with an appropriate dose of seasoning).

At any rate, the upgrade screen shown has been changed from a previous format – which made it easier to see the choice to stick with Windows 10 – to a new design where that option is harder to spot (on a bar at the bottom of the screen).

Moreover, the new design brings in a pair of buttons in the center of the screen: ‘Get it’ and ‘Schedule it’, with the former highlighted.

Now, what could happen to inattentive users, or those in a rush to get to the desktop, is that they see the highlighted ‘Get it’ button and assume the button next to it is the choice to decline. When in fact it is also a ‘yes’ response to the upgrade, the only difference being the process will be scheduled to happen in the future, rather than right now.

Analysis: This kind of deception has no place in Windows

This is a typical shady trick used to help generate more clicks to upgrade – although we’ve seen worse from Microsoft in the past. But as noted, we have to be careful about the source, and even if true, this is presumably something Microsoft is testing right now (as the new nag screen hasn’t been flagged up anywhere else).

We hope, then, that nothing will come of this. Although as we already mentioned, Microsoft has past form pulling this kind of nonsense with the free Windows 10 upgrade and dual options which might appear to be different at a glance, but both are actually saying ‘yes’ to the upgrade.

(Incidentally, in case you were wondering, the free upgrade to Windows 10 is still available to this day: we used the media creation tool to upgrade an old Windows 8.1 PC – which had just gone out of support – to Windows 10 just this past weekend).

In all honesty, the existing nag to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is already a rather monstrous affair, even without these fresh button shenanigans. If we recall correctly, there are three screens you have to pass through to decline the upgrade, and you already have to be a bit careful where you click. Windows 11 should stand on its own merits; never mind laborious multi-screen nags to get the new OS.

Microsoft has got a lot of flak in the past for this kind of badgering, but doesn’t appear to have fully learned its lesson yet. (And while we’re on the complaining train, the same is true of trying to sneak adverts for Microsoft services into bits of the Windows 10 or 11 interface – just stop it, in testing or otherwise).