Windows 7 Started Windows 10 Update Without My Input.

First I apologize if this doesn't make sense. Trying to give concise info but I am in a bit of a blind panic.

I have a Dell XPS 410 32 bit desktop running Windows 7 Home Premium.

I have the Windows updates set to automatically update. I unchecked and hid the update to Windows 10 option a long time ago. I ignore the box that pops up all the time asking me to update.

I do plan to update to Windows 10 in a month or so. I am hesitant to as I don't want to sign into my computer using a Microsoft account (or any other account for that matter) and need to research if this is avoidable. Plus I fear a missing driver nightmare. In other words, I don't know what I'm doing.

Had no problems upgrading this computer from Windows Vista to Windows 7.

I run Webroot Secure Anywhere as my virus protection. Also run SpywareBlaster, AdwCleaner and SUPERAntiSpyware free addition. I keep these programs updated. I have Webroot set to run automatically daily. I manually run Webroot and all other programs almost daily. I am careful with websites I visit and content I download.

Here's the problem. Today after running all programs I had 2 browsers open. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Both are up to date with latest versions. There were 2 or 3 tabs open in Google Chrome and maybe 4 in Firefox. No streaming video or anything going on.

All of a sudden my mouse cursor started blinking rapidly. (I have a cordless mouse and keyboard.) I tried to move the mouse to stop the cursor from blinking and the cursor kept blinking. I turned off the mouse and removed the battery. The cursor kept blinking for a bit and then the browser windows closed. Then my computer screen went blank.

Then I got a pop up that Windows 10 was installing the update!! I was horrified as I have a lot of emails to save and other stuff I fear I will lose if updated.

The update was at 0%. I couldn't turn off my computer by pressing the power button. My last resort was to unplug the power cord from the back of the computer.

I don't know what to do now. I am afraid to turn it back on. I am using my husband's computer to post here.

Thank you in advance for any help.

 

First off, I doubt anyone here has ever had to deal with a situation exactly like yours so we can't be certain what you will be faced with when you reboot. However there are a couple of things we can be reasonably sure about -

- You will, once upgraded, have the choice of signing in to Win 10 with either a Microsoft account or a local account, the choice is yours

- Your emails and other personal files won't be affected at all by the upgrade. The worst that may happen is that possibly some programs you may have previously installed yourself will be removed.

I suggest you restart and, if the Win 10 upgrade resumes, let it complete. If it completes OK you will be back in control and will have 30 days to decide whether to keep it or to revert to Win 7. It's possible though that you may get an opportunity to kill the upgrade so we can only ask you to come back with any further info you can provide after rebooting.

 

Thank you so much for replying Earthling. I appreciate the advice.

I will set some time aside and give it a shot. Then I will come back and report what takes place.

I don't know what a local account is but will go research it.

 

Not to frighten you Dumplin but, I turned off my laptop during some updates for Windows 8 (on a USB connected drive) and was not able to access the drive at all thereafter. I couldn't delete the volume in Disk Management so I could start anew or anything else.

Hopefully, your computer will still boot.

If you're able to boot up, and the Windows 10 upgrade completes, the programs that may be removed can be re-installed.

 

Thank you mdonah. I am going to drink my first cup of coffee and give it a go. Will come back and share the results.

 

Coming back to say after attaching power cord back to my computer and starting it up, the computer logged into Windows 7 without any problem.

I've decided to take the plunge and install Windows 10.

Thanks again Earthling and mdonah for all your help. It's very much appreciated.

I consider the problem solved.

 

Thanks for the update. Systems have to be designed to tolerate power outages so that's what we would expect, but with computers nothing should be taken for granted, especially with USB connected drives as in mdonah's case.

 

I'm glad things worked out the way they did.

As far as going the update route with Windows 10, many people including Earthling and myself had problems afterward and we both ended up going with a clean install of Windows 10. I even bought a separate Windows 10 Product Key.

 

Okay. If I decide to go with Windows 10, then I'm thinking a clean install is the way to go.

I appreciate all the help and thanks to all of you for the website. I find it helpful lots of times.

 

If you have any problems with activating Windows 10, post back here.