Microsoft has been so comprehensively burnt in the past by security problems and people running out of date systems that it has decided to take choice out of the equation for home users. So Windows 10 updates will be pushed automatically and the only choice home users will have is if the PC reboots itself, or waits for them to give the okay.

Of course there are advantages to this approach. Firstly, it means that everyone will be running the latest patches and security updates. As long as you use your PC regularly then you shouldn't ever face a situation where you're vulnerable for a bug that was fixed ages ago. And that's a good thing, because users present a huge problem in security.

On the other hand, if Microsoft breaks something with an update - be it software or even the OS itself - then users will be stuck with that until another patch can be issued to fix it. In some cases, with obscure software, that patch may never actually happen and it may fall to the software company to rewrite code. And again, with old software that may also never happen.

To some extent we'll only know how this works out once MS starts pushing updates, but for now it's slightly alarming. Perhaps though it's also a way to make Windows the secure OS that the majority of the public need.

Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise users will have more control, so anyone who thinks this may be a problem can always opt for a Pro licence. Anyone currently using Windows 8 Pro will be migrated to that version anyway, so this may ultimately not be a huge issue.

PC Magazine