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The only suggestion I can offer is to place a link somewhere near the top of the page to the AskWoody Facebook page.

@Woody –

“Is Windows 10 worth giving away some of my privacy? ”

Installed Zorin OS 9 Lite on an old HP laptop today. And Mint Cinnamon 17.2 on a Dell desktop yesterday. And cobbled together an Android 4.4.4 KitKat build for one of my Acer netbooks while watching the Thanksgiving day parade and the dog show Thursday…

Yep, I’m starting to worry less and less about Microsoft shenanigans.

WFW 3.11 over DOS 6.22 – loved it. IMHO, the most stable Windows until Win2K Pro. Ah, the simpler times…

Like PKCano, it’s in my Win8 queue, but has vanished from my Win7 rigs.

Interestingly, the KB documentation is already on revision 3.0 dated 11/12/2015 at 07:03 GMT. If they’re revising the doc like that, are they doing rolling revisions to the patch?

@Bruce H, @PKCano –

That update, KB2966583, is a 2014 update, last revised in August, 2014. All the files in the update package are dated May 30 & 31, 2014. It was briefly mentioned in one of Woody’s InfoWorld articles dated August 18, 2014. I’m kinda doubting it contains anything related to Win10 sneakware (is that a word?) or telemetry.

If someone knocks on my door, and they won’t make clear their intentions, they’re not coming in my house. And I’m about fed up with Microsoft trying to ‘sneak one by’. I’m not paranoid and I don’t wear a tinfoil hat, I’m just tired of the back-door shenanigans.

@wdburt1 –

Thanks, but I’m simply a bit OCD about what I will (and, consequently, will not) allow on my computers. If I wanted Win10, I’d install win10. Simple as that. I highly object to M$ trying to force it upon me against my will.

@PKCano –

Thank you.
Would you have a link to a MS article for the KB2966538? I don’t have any info on it.

Thanks.

@wdburt1 –

One that somehow didn’t get on my list above:

KB3044374 – Update that enables you to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10

Since we’re going down that road, here’s my little list of patches to avoid (sorry if it doesn’t format properly):

KB2952664 – Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7
This update helps Microsoft make improvements to the current operating system
in order to ease the upgrade experience to the latest version of Windows.

KB2976978 – Compatibility update for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8
This update performs diagnostics on the Windows systems that participate in
the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program. These diagnostics help
determine whether compatibility issues may be encountered when the latest Windows
operating system is installed. This update will help Microsoft and its partners
ensure compatibility for customers who want to install the latest Windows
operating system.

KB2977759 – Compatibility update for Windows 7 RTM
* See description above (for KB2976978)

KB2990214 – Update that enables you to upgrade from Windows 7 to a later version of Windows
This article describes an update that enables you to upgrade your computer from
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) to a later version of Windows.

KB3012973 – Old Win10 installer. Pulled by MS, seldom encountered.

KB3021917 – Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements
This update performs diagnostics in Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) in order to
determine whether performance issues may be encountered when the latest Windows
operating system is installed. Telemetry is sent back to Microsoft for those
computers that participate in the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program
(CEIP). This update will help Microsoft and its partners deliver better system
performance for customers who are seeking to install the latest Windows operating
system.

KB3022345 – Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry
This update has been replaced by the latest update for customer experience and
diagnostic telemetry that was first released on June 2, 2015. To get the update,
see KB3080149 Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry.

KB3035583 – Update installs Get Windows 10 app in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1
This update installs the Get Windows 10 app, which helps users understand their
Windows 10 upgrade options and device readiness.

KB3046480 – Update helps to determine whether to migrate the .NET Framework 1.1 when you
upgrade Windows 8.1 or Windows 7

KB3068708 – Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry

KB3075249 – Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7

KB3080149 – Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry

KB3090045 – Windows Update for reserved devices in Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 SP1

And the Windows Update Client patches that some say possibly aid in delivering Win10 via MS Update, and may help with svchost.exe issues:

KB3050265 – Win7 Update Client
KB3050267 – Win8.1 Update Client
KB3065987 – Win7 Update Client
KB3065988 – Win8.1 Update Client
KB3075851 – Win7 Update Client
KB3075853 – Win8.1 Update Client
KB3083324 – Win7 Update Client
KB3083325 – Win8.1 Update Client
KB3083710 – Win7 Update Client
KB3083711 – Win8.1 Update Client

HA! I didn’t even know you had an avatar… the Ghostery extension in Chrome blocks Gravatar.

@Woody –

“..and making one more recommendation that I think will be highly controversial.”

Ya ever notice that those are the ones that end up working out the best in the long run?

Woody, I’ve seen you suggest NOT uninstalling the culprit patches in a few posts, but what I’ve been doing (on Win7 systems) is…

(1) Set the ‘Diagnostics Tracking Service’ to ‘Disabled’ via services.msc
(2) Locate and uninstall the 2952664, 2977759, 3022345, 3035583, 3068708, 3075249, 3080149, 3083324, and 3090045 patches if found.
(3) Download and run the GWX Control Panel.
(4) Locking down Automatic Updates.

I haven’t seen any noticeable issues with uninstalling the patches. Yet. Am I missing something?

All I’m being offered is:

KB2526954 (Silverlight)

KB2467175 (Visual Studio)

KB2492386 (Win7)
KB2505438 ”
KB2506928 ”
KB2511250 ”
KB2515325 ”
KB2522422 ”
KB2529073 ”
KB2533552 ”
KB2534366 ”

May’s MSRT,
And the current Office updates.
SP1 isn’t there anymore.

As of today, SP1 (for Win7) is no longer showing up in my “Select updates to install” window. Did they pull SP1?