Microsoft Windows

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Microsoft Windows

Basic Information
Release Year	1985
Product Type	Software, Operating System
In Production	Yes
Official Website	https://windows.com/

Windows is a product line of proprietary graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sectors of the computing industry – Windows (unqualified) for a consumer or corporate workstation, Windows Server for a server and Windows IoT for an embedded system. Windows is sold as either a consumer retail product or licensed to third-party hardware manufacturers who sell products bundled with Windows.

Consumer-impact summary

Overview of concerns that arise from the conduct towards users of the product (if applicable):

• User Freedom
• User Privacy
• Business Model
• Market Control

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Windows operating system

This section is incomplete. This notice can be deleted once all the placeholder text has been replaced.

General issues and incidents with Windows operating system include...

Windows 10

Extended Security Updates (ESU) Program

In response to the criticisms aimed at the hardware requirements associated with Windows 11, Microsoft has opted to provide consumers with the option to take advantage of their Windows 10 ESU program. The Windows 10 ESU program will allow users to continue receiving security updates for 1 year, but not without a cost (unless you live in the EU ).

For those outside of the EU, the cost associated with entering the Windows 10 ESU is one of the following:

• Enable Windows Backup to sync device settings to your attached Microsoft account.
• Redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points.
• One-time $30 (or equivalent) payment.

Source for Windows 10 ESU cost options: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/extended-security-updates

Forced Updates

Beginning with Windows 10, end users can no longer selectively choose updates. Instead, updates are automatically scheduled when a computer is inactive or before the system is shut down. This has also led to some systems being rendered unusable because of bugged updates that cannot be avoided. Some users have resorted to disabling updates in Windows registry editor, though this prevents them from receiving security updates, which can make their systems vulnerable to attacks.

Resetting preferences during updates

During some Windows updates, the preferences users have set on applications that they have installed, will end up being reset to their default settings. Users have reported that this issue goes as far as resetting permissions for apps, which can be extremely risky for insecure software.

Forced software installation

See also: Forced app download

In addition to updates, Microsoft installs software, such as Candy Crush, on computers that the user did not ask for. This may also force users to agree to licensing terms, for instance when interacting with forcibly installed software to remove it.

Forced Arbitration

When Windows 10 is installed from the ISO that can be downloaded from Microsoft, the EULA explicitly mentions forced arbitration.

Windows 11

Main article: Microsoft Windows 11

Add one-paragraph summaries of incidents below in sub-sections, which link to each incident's main article while linking to the main article and including a short summary. It is acceptable to create an incident summary before the main page for an incident has been created. To link to the page use the "Hatnote" or "Main" templates.

If the company has numerous incidents then format them in a table (see Amazon for an example).

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Example incident one (date)

Main article: link to the main CR Wiki article

Short summary of the incident (could be the same as the summary preceding the article).

Example incident two (date)

...

See also

Link to relevant theme articles or companies with similar incidents.

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