Answers to your questions.
First off, my Win7Pro64 has the updates set to Notify Only, that way I can choose which updates (if any) to apply & when. If any given update turns out to be a telemetry spewing, Win10 downloading, or other trojan in disguise, I uncheck it, hide it, & refuse to ever download it. I certainly don't let it install. I can't do that with Win10. Each & every "update" they shove down my throat WILL get applied if I want it to or not, even if it turns out that doing so will crash my system.
Second, I use a Screen Reader Environment (SRE) that *has* to work or I can't interact with my computer *at all*. If an update might brick my computer, I *can't* let it get applied as I would have no way of fixing it. Thus the Win10 you'll-take-it-and-apply-it-and-STFU-about-it policy is *guaranteed* to cripple my system at some point, at which point I won't have any recourse. I can't fix what the SRE can't read to me, & the SRE can't do it's job if the system is hosed.
Third, I bought a full, retail copy of Win7Pro64. I expect it to be properly supported until it's listed EOL. Anything less on MS' part is a breach of contract. I did NOT buy a copy of Win10, I don't want a copy of Win10, so for MS to alter my paid for copy of Win7Pro64 into a Win10 against my express wishes is tantamount to a criminal act. If I changed the OS on your computer without your permission, there would be a cop pounding on my door with a warrant for my arrest on charges of criminal hacking. Yet MS doing the exact same thing is supposedly a GOOD thing? Not by any stretch of the imagination.
So I've repeatedly told MS that I'm not interested but they refuse to accept that "No Means No". As I've stated elsewhere in my posts, if they were a bloke in the pub doing this shite, they'd be up on rape charges a long bloody time ago. No Means No, not Maybe, & certainly not Yes. I said No, so stop trying to sneak that trojan back in.
Windows Update has repeatedly renamed & rereleased the GWX trojan so many times in an attempt to sneak it past our notice, it's like they *refuse* to take NO as an answer. Again, if this were a bloke at the pub doing this shit, the woman holding a knife to his balls & threatening to cut them off and FEED them to the fekwad would never wind up before a magistrate. The cops wouldn't be able to charge HER with anything more than Self Defense in face of a potential/probable rapist. Yet MS can use the exact same tactics to get Win10 in where it's not wanted? No way in hell.
Win10 collects such a massive load of your private data that MS has NO need to know about, then sends that data to MSHQ. It leaves any mic or webcam that you might have connected turned on & streaming to MS. Everything you type into the Search bar (or ask Cortana about) gets sent to MSHQ. Every time you alter or view a file on your system, that file & any changes are sent to MSHQ. It scans your local drives, any network drives, any USB style drives, & all other connected media for the files residing therein & sends that data to MSHQ. It notes every device you have connected & sends that data to MSHQ. It can, has, & will continue to determine which (if any) of those files, drives, or devices are "authorized" to be used on "your" system, then disable &/or delete them from the computer as they deem necessary. YOU don't get a say in this, it's THEIR operating system and THEY determine the "security measures needed to maintain a secure environment". So all your movies, music, porn, torrents, game cheats, pirated software, personal writings, *everything* is included in the "telemetry" that gets uploaded to MSHQ, and there's *fek all* you can do about it.
You can't block them with the built in firewall, blocking them with a hardware one stops MS from updating the system *at all*, and many of the address' MS uses were *hard coded* into the OS itself; you have to find some other way of blocking/redirecting them than a simple HOSTS file or the like.
It may be your computer, you've even got a bill of sale to prove it, but it's THEIR operating system & they'll do with it as they damn well feel. YOU don't get a choice in it... Except the choice not to run it in the first place. If it's not installed, then there's exponentially less telemetry going on, less MS control, & far fewer chances of "your" computer being used against you.
It's why folks are sticking with Win7 as long as possible, or going so far as to switch to either Apple or Linux. If we've got to buy a new computer anyway, then the jump to Apple isn't as costly as it otherwise would be. Linux has a steeper learning curve, but once you've figure out where your programs are stored, you're well on your way to Getting Shit Done.
It's not an upgrade if the end result is to force you to use your computer the way *they* tell you that you can use it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
