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Finally, some good news for people who are determined to avoid the Windows 10 "upgrade". Microsoft has this week issued an update that removes the Get Windows 10 App and other software related to the the Windows 10 free update offer, which expired July 29, 2016. From a report on Redmond Channel Partner:
An update issued by Microsoft this week will delete the infamous "Get Windows App" from users' systems.
The Get Windows App (also known as the "GWX app") was a nag-ware-like popup that showed up on Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows 8.1 desktops, prompting users to get a free upgrade to Windows 10. It hung around with that same message over a one-year period for those who didn't accept the offer. It took a lot of effort to make it go away.
The update that dispenses with the GWX app is labeled as "Knowledge Base article KB3184143." It became available through Windows Server Update Services as of Sept. 20, according to Microsoft's description article.
(Score: 2) by Chromium_One on Friday September 23 2016, @11:16PM
For anyone who really wants to make an attempt at an updated Win7 install without extra telemetry or other misfeatures, there are starting points for your research, but ... MS has indeed been re-issuing old patches without updating the KB number, so you can't trust that. Updates to various runtime packages (vcrun20xx, dot Net, etc.) are starting to come with extra telemetry, so on and so on and so on ...
Determining which patches lead to what data gathering, what's harmless and no cause for concern vs. what's not so innocuous? That's one hell of a project doing A/B testing against each and every patch, and so far as I'm aware nobody is touching it.
With that said, some are still making an effort. The most exhaustive single source for what patches are what that I've found so far is Team Grinder post on Overclock.net, at
http://www.overclock.net/t/1587577/windows-7-updates-list-descriptions-windows-10-preparation-telemetry [overclock.net]
Be advised though that trying to vet this list yourself leads into support documentation that is old enough to be questionable, removed from whatever source, or just plain nonexistent at points. Some of the calls they made looked questionable to me personally, but ...
If you're really stuck with Windows, the territory remains rather murky. Best of luck!
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