Windows 10 Has Destroyed My Laptop

[CHANCE GAUGE RYAN]

Windows 10 automatically downloaded to my new laptop in August and since it's essentially left it useless, bogging it down, logging me off the internet mid use, or shutting down all together.

I took it to a repair shop where I learned the download became permanent after 30 days, and there's no realistic way to remove the download without costing me more than what the laptops worth.

Why would someone like Microsoft create something that not only illegally stores your personal information, but isn't reversible on your own, or even by a repair shop.

My laptops a Dell Inspiron 15 3000 series it was provided to me by the VA Voc Rehab program, I'm a disabled Vet having to return to College after suffering a TBI and loosing my career in medicine, and having to redo College all over again. The VA won't provide me with a new laptop, and it makes no sense to pay for the system to be wiped which would cost over $200, only to pay to have all the deleted content repurchased which would cost more than most laptops on the market.

Can anyone direct me to a Microsoft CSR so I can see if they'd be willing to remove the download and repair my system?:unhappysweat:

 

[Tumultus]

I would strongly suggest you find yourself a new "repair shop" since those guys clearly aren't qualified to take care of your problems!

Originally, your Dell laptop shipped with a restore partition. The Windows 10 upgrade doesn't delete that partition and you still can use the built-in recovery function to restore your laptop to whatever was on there when you bought it. Check Dell's support website (or call them) for instructions on how to restore your laptop to factory condition. It usually involves a couple of key presses on startup in order to enter into recovery mode.

Naturally, I am assuming you didn't delete the recovery partition manually? And if you did, I hope you were smart enough to create yourself recovery media when you bought the device?

Either way, it is doubtful that Windows 10 "destroyed" your laptop. After all, it doesn't just install itself and it takes quite a bit involvement of the user to get it finally installed. I also believe that your problems are easily fixable since it sounds like you're missing some drivers. A clean install of Windows 10 will probably fix most of your problems.

 

[920Walker]

OP, thank you for your service to our country.

If the device is able to boot and connect to the internet maybe someone on here can help using remote access, or if unable to connect to the internet maybe someone is available locally.

You can most certainly go back to the previous OS but may need to do so starting from scratch, losing anything on the device unless you already backed data up or can still do so now in the current state.

 

[_Emi_]

Windows 10 automatically downloaded to my new laptop in August and since it's essentially left it useless, bogging it down, logging me off the internet mid use, or shutting down all together.

I took it to a repair shop where I learned the download became permanent after 30 days, and there's no realistic way to remove the download without costing me more than what the laptops worth.

Why would someone like Microsoft create something that not only illegally stores your personal information, but isn't reversible on your own, or even by a repair shop.

My laptops a Dell Inspiron 15 3000 series it was provided to me by the VA Voc Rehab program, I'm a disabled Vet having to return to College after suffering a TBI and loosing my career in medicine, and having to redo College all over again. The VA won't provide me with a new laptop, and it makes no sense to pay for the system to be wiped which would cost over $200, only to pay to have all the deleted content repurchased which would cost more than most laptops on the market.

Can anyone direct me to a Microsoft CSR so I can see if they'd be willing to remove the download and repair my system?:unhappysweat:

well Windows 10 was downloaded but YOU were the one installing it. also Windows tells you that after 1 month it will delete the Windows.old files if for some reason you want to downgrade. and one month is enough for people to see if the Windows 10 works or not.


You don't have to pay for anything, if you want to reset windows 10, you can do it by going to Settings > Update & security > Recovery.

you click on Get Started, and there is an option to keep files. I tested that some time ago, and it worked fine. I would try to find information of the files it really keeps, so you can be sure all your files will be safe. but Windows itself now has an option to reset windows and put it on a clean state but still keeping your files (some or most files or all files? I dont know).

You shouldn't have upgraded to Windows 10 if you didn't want to, only you can decided that, not windows or Microsoft. only because it downloads the FREE upgrade, it doesn't mean it automatically installed. But it can't destroy anything, maybe there are bugs that are present because of the upgrade, because let's be honest: for all the changes Windows can suffer and registry and system files and hardware differentiation, I am surprised many people have good experience with upgrades.
Because upgrades are messy, most of the time some bug will come out because of them, so clean install is the way to go. you only need to go to Dell and find the proper drivers for you device. because on all my computers Windows 10 works better than any other Windows ever. but yes, I had to clean install this other laptop to get the best experience.

 

[fatclue_98]

This must be the first case where the "Get Windows 10" icon clicked itself, agreed to the update and self-installed.

 

[Lee B]

I'm reluctant to blame the user when there are growing reports that MS is getting more aggressive about foisting the Win10 upgrade on users, whether they want it or not. When I was in Windows update today, I was surprised to see that one "optional" update had been checked for me -- namely to upgrade to Windows 10 (on a machine running 8.1). I unchecked it, but if I hadn't been paying attention, I presumably would have "opted" to upgrade.

I had a bad experience on a laptop that I upgraded to 10 (random crashes and assorted other glitches), so I'm waiting for more bugs to get squashed before moving my machines to 10, but MS seems to want me to move quicker. The good news for me was that the revert to 8.1 option worked as advertised and I got back to a stable OS that's been working very well for me.

 

[mjperry51]

I'm reluctant to blame the user when there are growing reports that MS is getting more aggressive about foisting the Win10 upgrade on users, whether they want it or not. When I was in Windows update today, I was surprised to see that one "optional" update had been checked for me -- namely to upgrade to Windows 10 (on a machine running 8.1). I unchecked it, but if I hadn't been paying attention, I presumably would have "opted" to upgrade.

I had a bad experience on a laptop that I upgraded to 10 (random crashes and assorted other glitches), so I'm waiting for more bugs to get squashed before moving my machines to 10, but MS seems to want me to move quicker. The good news for me was that the revert to 8.1 option worked as advertised and I got back to a stable OS that's been working very well for me.

I have deliberately held off upgrading my 3 year old HP laptop due to concerns about driver compatibility. The W10 Upgrade "nag" screen has gotten more persistent, and even Windows Update starts with the W10 Update as the only displayed available update. Clicking on "show all available updates" gets me where I want to be.

Until I say 'Yes' it's no -- they can nag all they want. . .