What about tablets? Those 16Gb/32Gb Windows ones that are cheap-as-chips? You seriously going to download 3Gb of crap without asking and then try to install it on a device that you can't boot into any kind of rescue system? Honestly?
There's a reason that I just switch off automatic update programs. That includes Windows Update. If and when I deem a certain update is required, *I* will take a backup, *I* will verify I have a restore path, and *I* will choose which updates and when I will apply them. Because anything else is just a path to device suicide.
As noted above, PC's without the capability to run Windows 10 are being offered the upgrade. What about strange UEFI BIOS etc.? What about encrypted devices with third-party encryption? What about plain-and-simple apps that just don't work on Windows 10 (they exist - I have been specifically advised by two banks and at least three software manufacturers to NOT upgrade to Windows 10 if I want to keep using their services, until they have "fixed incompatibilities and rolled out a verified update"). You honestly think your OS is that infallible that you can guarantee booting, guarantee rollback to previous state, no matter what the user has done with their computer in the years they've been using it? If so, I'm immediately calling you a liar, or an idiot, Microsoft.
A few years ago I would have been rubbing my hands - when I fixed any and all PC's that I was offered, as part of my small business and private work. I moved away from that area of IT for a reason. I just don't do those kinds of things even as favours nowadays - the hassle involved is just not worth it.
But forcibly upgrading people's PC's - even with a confirmation dialog? That's just a recipe for disaster.
Note: Out of the four people who have mentioned Windows 10 in passing to me in work (because I'm the IT guy, obviously), one managed to lose all their files (we assume she clicked the wrong thing somewhere and didn't "upgrade" as much as "wipe out and start again"), another lost four programs that wouldn't run again (and nothing particularly unusual), the third trashed the machine and it wouldn't boot, the fourth ended up with a start menu that crashed every 30 seconds and wanted you to sign out and sign back in to fix it... which took ten minutes and then just crashed again every time (I actually installed Classic Shell for them as there was no other way to revert that one, no restore points, no backups, no backwards path at all, and you couldn't do anything - even recover files - with the start menu crashing constantly. Classic Shell "avoided" the problem as it replaces explorer.exe as the shell, but it still crashes on other users, etc. on the same machine. At least they can get their files off it, though).
This stuff is just not that infallible and - like I explain to my employers whenever they query "why something's gone wrong 'again' ?" - if you have only a 0.1% failure rate with updates, that's between 1 and 2 machines out of action every time you single time you apply an update for a large company. Multiply by the number of updates deployed over the course of a year and nothing would ever work without the homogeneous hardware, the testing, imaging, deployment strategies, etc. that we employ. As it is, the fact that we sometimes have to say "X is not going to work from next year" (e.g. Java/Silverlight in the browser for non-IE browsers, for instance) is frowned upon already.
If that failure rate is critical, like an OS upgrade including complete program migrations and user areas on a personal PC, then the failure rate goes up, and the chances of fixing it plummets. If it's an unannounced, spur-of-the-moment, user-makes-the-decision update, on a personal PC then you aren't even likely to have backups or restore disks anywhere nearby (if at all!).
Just turn this stuff off. Stop using IE. Update your antivirus, browser and firewall software religiously, and ignore everything else. At least if they break, you stand a good chance of just uninstalling and reinstalling just those and keeping a working PC. They are your first lines of defence anyway - if something gets to the point that it can execute code, it's game over because Windows Updates never solve all the problems that are live and affecting the PC anyway.
But, honestly, forcing an OS update this critical and with this many logistical problems (e.g. pre-downloading huge amounts and then just attempting a reboot-install on god-knows-what hardware that you may not even be able to have space to recover, let alone a BIOS you can access), that's just asking to wipe Windows 10 reputation out immediately even if it's not a bad OS. People whinged when an album got pushed to their iPods, what the hell come of comeback were you expecting from forcibly upgrading their Windows?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
