Re: They're not helping themselves here.
Hmm, never had that happen to me, and I've checked.
Well if you have your Windows systems set up so that you don't automatically download all updates (or use WSUS) and have disabled the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) then you probably haven't seen any prompts appearing urging you to upgrade to Windows 10.
However, for every Win7 and 8 machine I've seen that has been in the possession of a 'normal' (ie. non-IT) user, I've seen them sporting the GWX icon in the notifications area and several had begun the Win10 download. Fortunately, GWX Control Panel (v1.6.0.1 released 24-Nov-2015) makes sorting these systems out very straight-forward.
Basically, I now install GWX Control Panel as standard and tell people that when they want to update to Win10, call me. The phone has yet to ring, although I do anticipate some to jump in April/May 2016.
Finally, with respect to individual systems performing a standalone download from WUP, the only reliable way to confirm this is on the individual PC's to use a firewall that monitors connections (eg. Agnitum Outpost), and hence displays a connection to relevant MS servers that is downloading GB's. Alternatively, you can enable connection logging on your router (eg. Draytek) and analyse these logs.