Not really sure how or why your computer would have Upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 without your consent. You could have rolled it back to Windows 8.1 for 30 days after the Upgrade was completed! You may still be able to do this if you haven't gone past 30 days! You should see an option to go back to previous Operating System here: Settings> Update & Security> Recovery

Windows 10 is set to Automatically Update/Upgrade your computer. You do have some control in Win 10 (when it's installed), but very little! Windows 8.1 on the other hand should have never Updated/Upgraded anything without your consent. Not really sure how this could have happened?

Some of your programs may not have been compatible with Windows 10, thus being removed. I didn't have any programs I wanted installed that weren't compatible so I had no issues with this problem.

I did just do the Major Update for Windows 10 on all of my computers. On our Two New Laptops I Did have to Reinstall the Dolby Home Theater v4. I received a notification telling me that I needed to reinstall this program to make it work! Everything else seems to be working okay. I may down the road find a certain feature not working in a program, but all of my programs do open and work!

A similar thing happened on 2 of my laptops. Both were virtually brand new when I booted them up and once on the start screen a window popped up and began the Win10 download and install. Both have been stuck in a perpetual upgrade loop ever since. Microsoft wants $150 a year to support their OS, and the laptop makers won't provide support, saying it's the OS and Microsoft's problem. I spent hours trying to figure out how to fix them and finally gave up. Everything is monetized now, so it seems any paper warranty is worthless. Maybe all of us in similar circumstances should file small claims suits against Microsoft; they nicked me for at least $2K.

What Brand of Laptops Do you have? What Operating System do they have (Windows 7, Windows 8 or 8.1)? I would suggest doing a Reinstall of your Operating System using Recovery Disks. Did you make your Recovery Disks Like recommended in your Laptops Paperwork? The Manufacturers no longer send Recovery Disks, you must either make a set of DVD Recovery Disks or make a Flash Drive Recovery Disk! You may also be able to Purchase a Recovery Set or Flash Drive from the Manufacturer.

I purchased a Refurbished Laptop that had a Clean Install of Windows 8 (not with the Acer Software Recovery Disks). The Seller didn't use Acer Recovery Disks but used a Retail Windows Disk that removed the Recovery Partition. I was unable to create a recovery disk not having a Recovery Partition. I wanted the Laptops Reset to factory but with that clean install the Recovery Partition was removed. Anyway, I ordered a Recovery Flash Drive from Acer for $45+ Tax shipped (about $50 all together).

I've since restored my laptop to factory settings and currently have Windows 10 Home Installed! There isn't anyone trying to collect $150 a year for anything. I'm assuming that you may have some form of Virus/Malware/Spyware on your system! Windows 10 shouldn't have tried to install unless you told it you wanted to upgrade!

Both my laptops are Asus. One is a new I7 with 4K touch screen, Zenbook. The other is an Asus with a standard definition touch screen, I think it's an I5, and it folds back to become a tablet.

Thanks for the information about getting recovery disks or usb's from Asus. I will try that. The thing that amazed me was both of mine were brand new when it happened - I hadn't even installed any software, nothing, nada, because I hadn't had them long enough to do any of that. It was literally one of the first times, on both machines, that I booted them up and this happened. They were both Win 8.1.

I wonder if while setting them up you answered a question asking if you wanted to install/upgrade to Windows 10. It's so easy to just Click Yes, Click Ok, Click, Click, Click. If you don't read thru everything carefully, it's very easy to install things you don't want to install.

I'm one of those guys that use to just Click, Click, Click and only skim thru all of the reading! I'll be the first one to tell you it's so easy to miss things like this! Believe me, I read thru it all these days!

I think I read everything too, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't just a click click on through set up. I recall using Internet Explorer a couple times before it happened. This morning I read that Microsoft has already pulled the latest massive Win10 update. The article said it was pulled without any explanation. It's probably because it's destroying people's computers...

Microsoft pulled the upgrade to the new November upgrade build from the self upgrade paths. Its difficult now for people to manually upgrade to it. The normal default automatic windows updates still has it and gives it out.

Windows updates will not automatically give the November update to a computer that has installed windows 10 within the last 31 days.

There are some install problems they still haven't put out the patch for yet. Install has problems, sometimes serious with a couple or more things - they may have stopped the windows updates for a couple days until those snafu's are parched. One is installing with a SD card plugged in is a no no.. another is installing with bit locker enabled is also a no no that the install doesn't catch.

Programs removed during the November upgrade because of their potential to cause problems to the install are put into the windows.old folder into a special folder so that they may be reinstalled - supposedly. There are some programs that just flat out will not work after the November upgrade.

The only thing I had a problem with is on my Newer Laptops and it was with Dolby Home Theater v4. I prompted me to Uninstall and then Reinstall. It is now Reinstalled on both Laptops and both are working just fine. I guess I never thought about checking the windows.old folder because I Uninstalled this program myself. I think it would have been saved there if Windows had done the uninstall. I still haven't gotten around to installing The Upgrade onto my Acer Iconia W4-820-2882 Windows Tablet yet. I've been extremely busy with my Mom and my Sister in the hospital!

This has been discussed in another forum I visit and MS has been forcing upgrades on W 7 and W 8.1. MS has apologized and said it was just a check mark in the wrong place. They tried to upgrade my Acer laptop to 10, but they could not. I had windows updates set to never and knowing they can over ride the never setting I also disabled it in services. I got a notice in the action center, went there and it told me I had important updates that needed to be installed on my computer. I took a look at the updates and there were a lot of drivers involved along with other updates. I did not enable the updates.

Before this happened I did upgrade my laptop to see what it was like. I found it took more clicks and longer to do what I wanted to do. I did not like it because I have no control over updates and did not like their privacy policy. I never buy a new computer without ordering the reformatting dvds so had no problem going back to W 8. My desktop is a W 7 and I bought it when it first came out. So I bought a windows 8.1 desktop to replace it when the time comes.