When you upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft is changing two fundamental defaults without any warning. We loathe the companies that change the home page in our Internet browser, or that add toolbars, or that install programs that take over some function that was being handled just fine without them. One of the unforgivable sins in modern computing is to change the way programs behave without permission. We’ll be gentle about that.īut Microsoft is also creating a poor first impression of Windows 10 with changes to default programs driven by poor judgment and hubris, not technical defects.

Okay, there’s a lot of PC hardware in the world and it’s hard to support the incredible variety of equipment that we have lashed together in hundreds of millions of different configurations. On the first point, there have been too many problems for too many people after their Windows 10 upgrades, ranging from complete failure to a vast array of smaller problems with displays, printers, USB devices, and much more. It’s done pretty well but hardly flawlessly. High on the list were two things: making the upgrade process smooth and uneventful and creating the first impression that Windows 10 is both familiar and slightly improved over your previous version of Windows. Microsoft needed to execute flawlessly on a number of things for Windows 10 to be an inarguable success.

Internet explorer defaulting to edge