Windows 10 is sneaking onto Windows 7 and 8 installs without permission

[Shift Kitty]

Disable automatic updating. You don't have to fully disable it (aka choose which updates), I think.

Apparently this doesn't work.

There may be a certain update you'll have to uninstall.

[Ad Bot]

[Frequency]

Apparently this doesn't work.

There may be a certain update you'll have to uninstall.

stuff

[shitlord]

stuff

you called

[Frequency]

you called

what the forget I had like a premonition or something that you would say exactly that

[Shift Kitty]

stuff

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3iaqti/remove_these_windows_78_kb_updates_to_stop/

[shitlord]

what the forget I had like a premonition or something that you would say exactly that

everyone on bl ts just calls me stuff lmao
the younger ones call me lord though

[blueblur121]

Well now there's no way to use Windows without being spied on or using an old as forget OS.
stuff.
What do you do about this if you need Windows for compatibility reasons?

[Frequency]

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3iaqti/remove_these_windows_78_kb_updates_to_stop/

okay

so how do I remove those updates? is there an option in the update history?

the younger ones call me lord though

that's precious, actually

[Ipquarx]

so how do I remove those updates? is there an option in the update history?

just look up "installed updates" in the control panel and use the search box

[blueblur121]

But do you really think you would be able to remove them that easily?
Even if it looks like they're gone, they're probably still there.

[Steve5451²]

A superior OS that spies on you.

Windows 7 and 8 also received these enhanced spying tools after Windows 10 was released. Either way you've got them.

[Stick Man]

And this is why I have the Windows Update service permanently stopped.

[Ipquarx]

But do you really think you would be able to remove them that easily?
Even if it looks like they're gone, they're probably still there.

One can easily debunk this by doing checksums on files before/after installing and uninstalling, I haven't done it myself but this is really just paranoia.

Windows 7 and 8 also received these enhanced spying tools after Windows 10 was released. Either way you've got them.

Not if you're careful which updates you install and you disable automatic updating. You're a bit more susceptible to viruses in that case however.

[Blake1Studios]

Windows 7 and 8 also received these enhanced spying tools after Windows 10 was released. Either way you've got them.

am I safe on vista? <3
(although I got a windows 10 PC and use that more often than this one)


Quite honestly I don't have a problem with Microsoft "spying" on me in any way. I do nothing interesting or suspicious, just browse a few forums and upload to YouTube and twitch, as well as play video games.

Maybe I don't care because I'm a pointless minor, idk

[Decepticon]

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3iaqti/remove_these_windows_78_kb_updates_to_stop/

Well now there's no way to use Windows without being spied on or using an old as forget OS.
stuff.
What do you do about this if you need Windows for compatibility reasons?

Basically they add more reporting to some windows services and flags that are raised so that Microsoft can collect more data on them. I'm going to try to take an unbiased and non-paranoid approach to these descriptions. And I do apologize for the wall of text, see the last two paragraphs for a TL;DR

The first one in the list, KB3075249, adds some telemetry points to the UAC feature (the thing that pops up and says "are you sure you want to run this") to collect information most likely on how many times a user sees the UAC pop up and what it pops up for. If you aren't going full paranoid this is most likely to figure out better algorithms for when the UAC popup should occur. Of course this also gives some information on what users are using that triggers the UAC. If you disable UAC you don't have to worry about this one.

The second one in the list, KB3080149, collects diagnostic information about issues on Windows systems that use the "Customer Experience Improvement Program", which AFAIK is an opt-in program where you agree to send data back anyways (You know those popups that say "please help make windows better" that appear sometimes when you launch Word or Excel?). This simply looks like it adds better diagnostic reporting if anything.

Further here is a quote from that update:

For any released product with an option to participate in CEIP, you can select to start or stop participating at any time.

So while it does add a lot of diagnostic telemetry points, which is needed to get a better view of what is going on and provide more information so that issues the CEIP reports can get fixed in a more timely matter it is completely optional and you can opt in or out at any time.

The next one, KB3068708, adds a "Diagnostic and Telemtry tracking service", and is again related to the CEIP, so again you can opt out of this on a per-program basis or choose to never opt in in the first place.

The next one, KB2976978, is again for systems that participate in the CEIP. And it looks like it uses its diagnostics to determine if there will be compatibility issues with updating to the latest Windows OS. Again since this is CEIP it wont do anything if you aren't opted into the program.

KB3021917 seems to perform diagnostics on your system to try to figure out if you will encounter performance issue if you update to the latest Windows OS and, again, if you are in the CEIP it will send data back to Microsoft and partners so that they have more data of "this configuration will cause these problems when updated" so that they can try to find a way to fix it.

Again if you aren't opted into the CEIP it wont send data back.

KB2952664 just seems to aim to make the upgrade experience to the latest version of Windows easier. Such as probably a few fixes for the rare "tried upgrading and got blackscreen and unbootable computer" that some people got, as well as probably improvements that could speed up the upgrade process.

The majority of these updates are opt-in if you want the data sent to microsoft and partners. If you dont want the data to be sent just make sure you aren't participating in CEIP and you won't have anything to worry about.

Basically this isn't "spying" so much as Microsoft adding more Telemetry and diagnostics points so that people who have already agreed to send data to Microsoft and Partners does it in a better way.

looks like there's not too much 'spying' involved if you aren't opted into CEIP, so don't start panicking just now