Windows 10 wrecked your PC? Microsoft may have to pay you

[sincity]

UK consumer watchdog Which has gone on the warpath against Windows 10, noting that the operating system has caused problems for a number of users, and urging Microsoft to compensate those whose PCs have been put through the mill by the OS.

Which said that it had received well over 1000 complaints about Microsoft's newest OS, and that it caused a number of conflicts with hardware – in particular printers, speakers and Wi-Fi were mentioned. The organization also observed that some consumers had been left with a PC so badly hobbled that they ended up paying a third-party to repair the machine.

All this is compounded by the fact that Microsoft pushed the OS hard with its Get Windows 10 software and nag screens, and other measures which meant that some folks ended up having the Windows 10 installation fire up of its own accord (possibly the result of a messy bug which Microsoft admitted to last November).

Obviously, if you didn't want Windows 10 in the first place, and subsequently ended up with the operating system being installed and breaking things on your machine – that's a rather aggravating situation.

Consumer rights

And so Which is calling for Microsoft to "honor the rights of consumers adversely affected by the Windows 10 update" – and it adds that this includes forking out for compensation to users.

The watchdog further noted that of those who contacted Microsoft over problems caused by the OS, a number complained about receiving poor customer service from tech support reps.

Back in June, Which also carried out a survey and found that of 2,500 members who had upgraded to Windows 10, 12% of those had ended up reverting back to their previous version of Windows – potentially due to problems encountered, but also perhaps because they simply didn't like the new OS.

As well as the problems the initial upgrade to Windows 10 may have caused, we've also seen a number of fresh gremlins appear with the recent Anniversary Update. This triggered issues with computers freezing up, webcams not working, and Kindles crashing PCs, to mention just a few of the problems that cropped up.

• But if you want one of Intel's latest CPUs, you'll need Windows 10