Five ways Microsoft plans to get you to upgrade to Windows 10 Microsoft wants Windows 10 on one billion devices by 2018 - and its tactics for hitting that ambitious goal are about to get more aggressive. From next year, Microsoft will be more direct in pushing Windows 7 and 8.1 users to upgrade to its latest OS, in an attempt to bolster the 110 million-strong Windows 10 userbase. Here's how Microsoft is about to crank up the pressure to make the switch. 1. Windows 10 will automatically begin installing itself From "early next year", Microsoft will change the status of the free Windows 10 upgrade so it is classified as a Recommended Update. Given that most home machines are set up to install Recommended Updates automatically, the change to Windows 10's update status will lead to most Windows 7 and 8.1 machines beginning the upgrade. However, Microsoft says that before Windows 10 is installed users will need to manually confirm the installation, giving them a chanc...