What are the differences between KB2952664, KB3150513 and the naughty KB3035583?

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A very interesting synopsis from our very own ch100: What are the differences between KB2952664, KB3150513, and the naughty “Get Windows 10” patch KB3
[See the full post at: What are the differences between KB2952664, KB3150513 and the naughty KB3035583?]

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What I have observed on a test machine supports ch100.

I have hidden all versions of KB2952664 (and other telemetry updates) on that machine. Without that prerequisite, I have not seen KB3150513. Windows Update is on “let me choose” simply to control the timing of update installs.

I have installed all versions of KB3035583. The “Get Windows 10” app is running and the icon is present in the System tray. But the popup (which popped up early on, but no longer pops up) has not changed since Dec. last or early Jan.

I have GWXCP stand-alone on the desktop to monitor, but I have NOT disabled the OS upgrade or the GWX app.

In all that time, Windows Update has not been changed from manual to automatic. The popup has not become more aggressive. Nor have the install bits been downloaded to the hidden folders on the C: drive.

It seems KB3035583 is just a nag, while it takes the others to push the upgrade itself.

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I did few more tests which I haven’t done before and I configured Microsoft’s documented configuration in https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3080351
Policy path: Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Windows Update Policy
Setting: Turn off the upgrade to the latest version of Windows through Windows Update
This was after installing everything available, which included KB3035583.
What I found interesting is that the icon for advertising the Windows 10 Upgrade is still available in the tray, although I believe that the upgrade would never complete after doing the documented configuration.
What is the reason we still get the promotion icon for upgrading if the Group Policy as documented is set not to upgrade?

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Another interpretation: The first two updates were retained for larger business customers because their collective telemetry data was too valuable to give up.

I don’t know anything about the data or how Microsoft uses it, but on general principle the exclusion of a large part of the statistical population would seem to seriously detract from the value of whatever data was collected from other users.

This user continues to turn off telemetry. There is no assurance as to how the data will be used, and I understand that Microsoft’s latest EULAs basically say that Microsoft makes no promises in that regard. I do not want to turn over my computer and its contents for use for advertising or other purposes, insofar as I can avoid doing so, nor do I want to expose my data to hackers who in time will predictably make off with the data of millions of users. In this household, it’s still security updates only, and no problems noted with that policy.

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I’ve installed all updates (and “updates”) so far on Win7. But I was confident in doing that mainly because Comodo firewall takes care of most new “services” wanting internet access.

However, seems all GWX related activity stopped when I disabled a few things:

-Services: Diagnostic Tracking Service

-Task Scheduler:

/ Task Scheduler Library / Microsoft / Windows / …all tasks under Application Experience and Customer Experience Improvement Program

and (since today or something like that, after running latest updates) also all tasks under …Windows / Setup / gwx (there are a lot of entries there)

Weeding the garden, more or less.

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On my Windows 8.1 PC I was able to uninstall later versions of KB2976978, but the oldest version of KB2976978 on my system is version 6.3.2.1 which can not be uninstalled. I guess this issue affects Windows 8.1 versions released after July 8th 2014, the date KB2976978 was first released.

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Here is the Microsoft official whitepaper for telemetry performed in Windows Server 2016 (still in beta) with references to Windows 10.
https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Windows-Server-and-System-d8d98dc6
There is a URL in the whitepaper which links to the Office documentation about telemetry. Not sure how this applies to other operating systems and the relevant settings, however the principles should still apply.

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I’ve successfully uninstalled that update many times with my own version of the “no windows 10 and junk script”, you want to get rid of it?

It also hides the junk updates every time a new update is discovered and downloaded or every 12 hours, if the task is enabled.

It is written mostly in as a windows batch file, but I had to use javascript to hide windows updates, and some powershell to remove KB2976978, powershell in turn had to import a few c++ functions from a microsoft DLL since microsoft left no scriptable way to take ownership of a registry key you don’t have “take ownership” privileges on (you can do it with regedit, but that’s no fun).

You are the first person I’ve seen run into this which is surprising, but I guess most people don’t have the Windows 8.1_U3 (Nov2014) ISO to do clean install (which has KB2976978 built in).

I can walk you through removing KB2976978 by hand, or you can use the script. Since it is all scripting you can review every line of code, although it isn’t very neatly written (or commented) since it wasn’t intended for use by anyone else, but it is very well tested.

On another note, has anyone ever taken a multiline powershell “here string”, one-lined it with escaping, then re-escaped it for use in a batch file? If not consider yourself lucky…

Also, why don’t we have a forum here?

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Two reasons we don’t have a forum:

> It’s expensive to set up and maintain (the software isn’t expensive, but it takes a lot of time and effort)

> I don’t particularly want to compete with other, good, long-established fora, including Eileen’s Lounge

EDIT: I also don’t know how we’d integrate a forum into the current setup. I actually fretted over the idea for a month this past winter, but the price was stiff and the time requirement huge. I also don’t want to duplicate what’s on Eileen’s Lounge.

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I got my answer here http://www.infoworld.com/article/3067114/microsoft-windows/relax-kb-3035583-patch-is-not-overriding-windows-10-registry-settings.html

*********************************
In addition, you can set this registry key to turn off the Get Windows 10 icon in the system tray/notification area, in the lower-right corner of the screen:

HKLMSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindowsGwx
DWORD value: DisableGwx = 1

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And this setting is in KB3080351 at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3080351

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I think the new telemetry implementation in Windows 7 is not limited to Gwx. It seems to collect data not only related to Windows 10 upgrade (which is what is commonly called Gwx = Get Windows 10 – X in Latin numbers/Roman numerals), but also related purely to Windows 7 functionality.
It’s great that you managed to filter all the undesired activity. I tried Comodo Firewall not long ago and I found it to be the best in its class, at least for the functionality in which I had an interest, although other good firewalls were mentioned in other comments.

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I think the Nov 2014 ISO for Windows 8.1 and for 2012 R2 was released only to SA and MSDN (volume license) customers and not to the retail market. This is the reason why it is not common. Original release of the ISO with all the patches installed, should be identical or even more complete, because some patches released before Nov 2014 are missing in U3. I post this info here only because some readers may think that the U3 ISO is something special. It is only a cumulative update release.

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In the same way I think that there is a February 2016 release of Windows 10 1511. Same idea, only a cumulative update or rollup version, which means the original release plus patches to date.

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All of the updates to Win10, except certain driver updates, are cumulative. Office is a completely different story.

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I know Woody. I was trying to say that there is an image released by Microsoft with updates built already into the image. I downloaded it in March from TechBench and I think the original file name at Microsoft is Win10_1511_1_English_x64.iso. Inside the image, the folders and files have the date 2016-02-14, time 00:17
This indicates to me a re-release of the 1511 in February 2016 which has some updates included (slipstreamed) in the image.

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There are a LOT of things in the Task Scheduler that you might not want running once you learn what they do.

It’s a good idea to set aside some hours, go through them with a fine tooth comb, and possibly disable those that just don’t do what you want done. If nothing else, it’s a helluva good learning experience to research what your system is doing.

Then, to see whether things in the Task Manager are re-enabled down the line (as overriding / reverting user configuration choices is no longer something Microsoft avoids), it’s not a bad idea to regularly dump the list of scheduled tasks and compare the results with prior such lists. Such polling will also turn up information about what jobs are recurring, as the times/dates will change.

A command that does this (and which will even show you the hidden tasks) is:

SCHTASKS /Query /FO CSV

I have posted a script that embodies the above command among several others, and can be scheduled to enable a “what’s changed on this system” review here:

http://win10epicfail.proboards.com/thread/114/watch-system-changes

-Noel

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