An alteration to Microsoft’s Windows 10 upgrade pop-up box has been heavily criticised by customers as “deceitful” and “nasty”.

For the last six months, Windows 7 and Windows 8 users have been presented with an upgrade pop-up box asking users to either “Upgrade Now” or “Upgrade Later”.

The only way to skip the upgrade was to click the red “X” icon in the top right hand corner, typically used to close windows.

However, an alteration to the Windows 10 upgrade alert now means if a user dismisses the box with the “x” icon, rather than closing the window, it now activates the upgrade, the BBC reports.

The change occurred as Microsoft have now labelled the update as “recommended” and most users PCs are programmed to accept this type of update for security purposes.

Microsoft has said the upgrade can still be halted when the programmed time for it to begin appears.

The modification has been dubbed a “nasty” and “deceitful new update” by Brad Chacos, PC World website senior editor.

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Mr Chacos wrote: “I’ve long been a vocal critic of the heavy-handed tactics that Microsoft’s been using to force people into the upgrade.

“Deploying these dirty tricks only frustrates long-time Windows users who have very valid reasons to stick with operating systems they already know and love.”

A number of social media users have also vocalised their frustration with the change.

Trevor Darby said: “Work at a repair shop. So many customers called complaining about how they hit the "X" as usual and got upgraded to Windows 10.”

Another user said: “Very disappointed with Microsoft the way they're tricking people into Windows 10 upgrades. Sorry, it's not right.”

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Microsoft said in a statement: "With the free Windows 10 upgrade offer ending on 29 July, we want to help people upgrade to the best version of Windows.

“As we shared in October, Windows 10 will be offered as a 'recommended' update for Windows 7 and 8.1 customers whose Windows Update settings are configured to accept 'recommended' updates.