Why is KB3068708 now a IE11 perquisite ?

I'm getting mixed feedback on this from various sources as to what KB3068708 actually does in a Win7 system some say it contains a lot of updated system files and is mostly harmless in Win7 and should be installed, though the Win8 version is pure telemetry.

The last time I installed IE11 manually and it's previous perquisites (2 days ago) there was no mention of needing KB3068708 however today when updating a WIM for the next clean install with the latest patches IE11 refuses to play ball needing this KB3068708...

If it is simply down to spying then there is a myriad of other things already running on the system that has been doing that for years.

So can anyone shed some light please as to what this KB3068708 really does and is it harmless enough to install in order to keep IE11 happy for an unattended install ?

Layback Bear said:

To me KB3068708 is a Microsoft sneak and peak update.
I have no need for it so I removed it when it first came out without any bad side effects. I seldom use I.E. 11 so I really can't tell whether KB3068708 effects it.

I would never upgrade a Windowss 7 key to Windows 10 so Microsoft doesn't need any more of such KB's on my systems.

It does appear to be that, I can say IE 11 is working just fine without it at least on the systems I have here at the moment, however IE11 was all installed and updated manually on them with the existing perquisites.

NoelDP said:

Here's the official MS page on the KB
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3068708

There's not a lot of stuff out in the real world that isn't merely speculation and scare-mongering - I haven't heard of it being a necessary update for anything except possibly Win10 installs before.

Personally I can't see any good reason for it to be a requirement for IE - or for Win10 - from the above description, but on the other hand I can see no good reason not to install it if it helps actually improve the OS, and doesn't expose personal information.

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
Well if you read this you'd have to be a participant in ceip before it to send anything :/
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3068708

After reading those again I can see a possible connection with IE maybe in order to iron out any potential flaws with their new browser (Edge I think) since its in relation to CEIP purely a guess though... The WIM did integrate IE though without that KB despite complaining about it and I don't see any errors in the log... so I will see what actually happens when I come to deploy it later on today... Thanks for the input guys I shall report back.