Skip to main content

Your PC will stop nagging you about upgrading to Windows 10 on July 29

windows 10 free update promotion file removal dark
Image used with permission by copyright holder
From the very beginning, Microsoft was completely transparent about its intentions for Windows 10 to bring all PC users to be together under one OS. As such, it wasn’t all that surprising when computers all over the world began nagging at their owners to make the upgrade when the software launched last July.

We’re coming up on Windows 10’s first birthday, and it seems that Microsoft will mark the anniversary with something plenty of users will appreciate. After July 29, you’ll no longer be bugged by irritating notifications from your Taskbar attempting to pressure you into the jump.

Recommended Videos

This move isn’t just a case of Microsoft throwing its users a bone — July 29 is when the offer of a free upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 comes to an end. The nagging is an annoyance to users now, but it would surely be even more unwelcome if the procedure carried its own price tag, too.

The first step in the process will see the Get Windows 10 app disabled, at which point it won’t pop up and give the sales pitch to users. At a later time, the app will be completely removed from the systems that it’s currently installed on.

Microsoft seems to be stressing that now is the time to upgrade to Windows 10 for anyone that hasn’t done so already, but the company has fallen short of actually saying as much, as noted in a report from Liliputing. As such, we might see the free upgrade offer extended as we get closer to the current deadline of July 29.

As it stands, users can expect to pay $119 on a Windows 10 licence if they don’t install the free update before July 29. For anyone still on the fence about whether or not to take advantage, it might be worth making a decision sooner rather than later.

Brad Jones
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…
There’s a scary new way to undo Windows security patches
Windows 11 logo on a laptop.

Security patches for Windows are essential for keeping your PC safe from developing threats. But downgrade attacks are a way of sidestepping Microsoft's patches, and a security researcher set out to show just how fatal these can be.

SafeBreach security researcher Alon Leviev mentioned in a company blog post that they'd created something called the Windows Downdate tool as a proof-of concept. The tool crafts persistent and irreversible downgrades on Windows Server systems and Windows 10 and 11 components.

Read more
Microsoft cracks down on Windows 11 upgrade requirements
A photo of the Sensel Click Composer Software running on Windows 11

With just a little more than a year left before Windows 10 hits its end-of-life, Microsoft has been busy encouraging people to upgrade to Windows 11. One of the hurdles with getting PCs upgraded to Windows 11, though, are the hardware requirements -- and now they're cracked down on harder.

A recent beta build of Windows 11 has patched the well-used "setup.exe /product server" workaround that allowed you to completely bypass the system requirements check and run Windows 11 on a non-compliant machine -- in other words, a machine without TPM 2.0.

Read more
Microsoft backs off on pressuring Windows 10 users to upgrade
Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating system logos are displayed on laptop screens.

Microsoft has announced that it will ease up the aggressive add tactic to get Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11 after receiving negative backlash from users, as Windows Latest reports. There is no official word on whether stopping the full-screen multipage popups is permanent, but a plan to “share a new timeline in the coming months” was mentioned.

Windows 10 Home users saw these ads, but some Pro and Business users also saw them after rebooting their computers. Regardless of who saw them, the ads’ pause comes as the Windows 10 end-of-life date, October 14, 2025, approaches.

Read more