> Even if you are doubtful of 'forced upgrades', you can research for all the evidence yourself.
The fact that people claim -- or journalists report -- forced updates doesn't make their claims true. Everybody who deals with real users knows how unaware they are.
Having said that, I agree that the "dark patterns" were a really bad idea. Microsoft actually does know how unaware real users are, and its upgrade offers should have reflected that.
Whether it was worth turning off security updates is another matter, and would depend on the circumstances. For most users, my opinion is that it was stupid.