It turns out that, even if you hadn’t asked for it, the odds are your non-Apple computer has already downloaded Windows 10 — to save time.
The automatic Windows 10 download can happen without you knowing, lying dormant on your machine until you seek to make the switch.
The download is between 3.5Gb to 6Gb in size, creating a ‘$Windows.~BT’ folder on your system, as revealed by The Inquirer.
That kind of file size can cause problems if you’re running close to your capacity, or your computer only has, say, 32Gb to play with in the first place.
But Microsoft claims this is for brevity, getting things in order for people to upgrade in a timely fashion.
“For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they’ll need if they decide to upgrade,” said the company in a statement.
“When the upgrade is ready, the customer will be prompted to install Windows 10 on the device.”
It’s a little odd, in that automatic updates are usually reserved for patches and bug fixes. In this instance an entire OS is landing on your machine, lying in wait.
Microsoft is understandably keen to see as many people upgrade to its new toy as possible, with 75m upgrading within a month.
It has received largely favourable reviews, too, but it’s still awful presumptuous of Microsoft to think everyone will happily take the plunge.
After the change between Windows 7 and Windows 8 became less and less appealing to users, blanket support for an immediate, unsolicited change vanished.
It’s weird, although not as weird as the old way Microsoft encouraged you to upgrade:
Main image via Shutterstock
