There are many reasons someone might choose to delay installing Microsoft’s Windows 10: maybe you just want to stick with Windows 7 or 8 a little longer, or you don’t feel like making space on your PC to accommodate the new OS. But if you aren’t paying attention, you could end up downloading the OS installer anyway.

Microsoft has tried to nudge Windows 7 and 8 users in the direction of their free upgrade by providing it via Windows Update control panel. Which is all well and good, as until now, it showed up as an optional update, meaning it won’t install automatically.

But as Ars Technica points out, despite the fact that it’s optional, the update appears pre-checked by default, so if you’ve got a bunch of other things ready to install and don’t look carefully at the list, you may find yourself downloading the Windows 10 installer before you’re ready.

Though some users had reported the installer program also then starting up on its own, Ars checked it out and found that the installer needs direct action to actually make it go. If you do accidentally upgrade to Windows 10, you at least won’t find your computer suddenly running on it without your permission.

Microsoft told Ars that the default update option happened accidentally, and it’s going to change that soon.

“As part of our effort to bring Windows 10 to existing genuine Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 customers, the Windows 10 upgrade may appear as an optional update in the Windows Update (WU) control panel,” the company said. “This is an intuitive and trusted place people go to find Recommended and Optional updates to Windows. In the recent Windows update, this option was checked as default; this was a mistake and we are removing the check.”

Windows 10 upgrade installing automatically on some Windows 7, 8 systems [Ars Technica]

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