How to remove Windows 10 upgrade updates in Windows 7 and 8

From my understanding of the telemetry patches in windows 7, they don't become active unless Customer Experience Improvement Program is turned on. So you at least have a choice in Windows 7 to disable it or enable it.

Callender said:

Thanks for clearing that up! :)

The only thing the June update rollup does include is the latest Windows Update client. Which some may choose to avoid, if they want to completely avoid anything 10 related.

groze said:

From my understanding of the telemetry patches in windows 7, they don't become active unless Customer Experience Improvement Program is turned on. So you at least have a choice in Windows 7 to disable it or enable it.

Not true unfortunately, you can test this by setting up VM's yourself. Install a firewall in the VM and turn on verbose alerts. You'll see after you install the patches that even with CEIP turned off the processes Appraiser and CompatTel are frequently requesting Internet access. KB2952664, which was the first of these telemetry patches to be pushed out, is the main culprit.
That was also the patch that caused my main PC to have excessive disk thrashing, even with CEIP turned off.

Once I had uninstalled the patch my disk went back to normal and no Appraiser or CompatTel tasks continued to request internet access and the files were also removed. So, the processes are still running even when it's switched off. As to what data is being transferred though, I have no idea.

But the privacy issue isn't my main concern with those, that's been completely overblown if you ask me. The constant disk thrashing was my initial reason for removing and rejecting these telemetry patches, and why I added them to my list. I won't have any update installed which negatively impacts my systems. Also, that patch is described as collecting telemetry with regards to the 10 upgrade, and as I won't be upgrading any of my systems to Windows 10, I find them completely unnecessary. Just more processes running that aren't needed.

Hi Groze, sorry for the delay. I was on holiday and it's taking me a couple of days to get back into the swing of normal daily life again!

You can use any firewall as long as it gives you details about what's connecting and to where. I use Comodo, just the firewall installed without the bloat, although that's probably not the best one to use in a VM environment, as it can be a little heavy on resources. As long as you allocate enough resources to the VM for it to run well.

It is possible they've improved those telemetry patches, I haven't really tested them for a few months now. It seemed to be running all the time on my system, although that patch has been reissued around 20 times so they might have fixed it by now. If you set one up, let me know the outcome, as I'd be interested to see if it still runs often.

On a different note.... 29th July is here!

As Shakespeare would say:

Rejoiceth! for thou hast all did survive this torturous year!