Can i suggest:
http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/index.html
I use it on all my machines.
Brilliant piece of software.
Basically, anything that tries to establish an outside connection if flagged until you allow / block.
Some things it alerted me to on my Win7 Laptop:
GWXDetector
GWXExperience
Microsoft Compatibility Telemetery
Needless to say, these are now all blocked!!!
It's another weapon in the fight to keep MY data out of their hands.
Also helpful for clobbering malware when it attempts to connect to its C&C servers.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
