Why it matters to you
Microsoft’s latest lawsuit over Windows 10 updates now claims the OS wiped files and broke computers.
Microsoft is facing a class action lawsuit for $5 million in Illinois over allegedly buggy Windows 10 updates that deleted people’s files and damaged their devices.
Three people have filed the class action suit against the Redmond, Washington company, alleging unwanted installations, and claiming that the update from Windows 7 machines to Windows 10 caused damage to their computers and wiped files. They are seeking other aggrieved parties in the U.S. to join their case, which would only encompass people who experienced these kinds of issues within 30 days of making the switch from 7 to 10. The case would not include Windows 8 users.
More: One woman was so annoyed by the Windows 10 update, she sued — and won
The plaintiffs claim they have more than 100 class members already and at present are looking for $5 million in damages.
Microsoft “failed to exercise reasonable care in designing, formulating, and manufacturing the Windows 10 upgrade and placing it into the stream of commerce,” according to lawyers representing the three Windows users in Chicago District Court.
“As a result of its failure to exercise reasonable care, defendant distributed an operating system that was liable to cause loss of data or damage to hardware,” they said.
“Absent a warning or instruction, a reasonable consumer would not be aware of the problem.”
One of the plaintiffs describes in the filing how he regularly selected no on the prompts for him to update to Windows 10 but after six months, he eventually gave in. He claims that the upgrade caused his computer to crash which he had to pay Microsoft to fix.
Microsoft had offered free upgrades for a period for all Windows 7 and 8 users.
Digital Trends reached out to Microsoft for a comment but has yet to hear back. The company did however provide a statement to The Register over the weekend saying, that “customers had the option not to upgrade to Windows 10” and pointed to its free customer support and 31-day offer to roll back to an older version of the OS. “We believe the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit,” the company said.
This isn’t the first time that Microsoft has faced a lawsuit over Windows 10 upgrades. Last June, a woman in Seattle bagged $10,000 from Microsoft in a settlement.