I have been reading reams of info on the recent sneaky moves by Microsoft to force/fool/trick users into moving to Windows 10 (the GWX debacle) plus the mysterious nature of many recent Windows updates - that in reality are merely hooks and setup for more privacy/telemetry gathering designed to compromise a clean tidy Windows 7 Home or Pro install.
I have tried to keep up on the latest info to combat the issue (Hiding Windows updates, killing telemetry tracking, removing GWX stuff etc) but it seems like a losing battle as it seems every month MS ramps up more crap by changing optional updates to Recommended and finding new way to force this crap into our lives.
Outside of moving all our machines to Windows 7 Enterprise - which I understand to be immune to all of this crap - does WSUS Offline make any effort to ensure that none of this crap is being added/readded to an install via the Off Line process?
Example - here are a boatload of Windows Updates - to avoid - starting in Summer 2015. All have been verified to either enable the Windows 10 Upgrade annoyances, enable privacy tracking, covertly gather telemetry data and other nasty crap:
KB3083711 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: October 2015 more info
KB3083710 Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: October 2015 more info
KB3083325 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: September 2015 more info
KB3083324 Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: September 2015 more info
KB2976978 Compatibility update for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 more info
KB3075853 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: August 2015 more info
KB3050265 Windows Update Client for Windows 7: June 2015 more info
KB3050267 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1: June 2015 more info
KB3075851 Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: August 2015 more info
KB2902907 MS Security Essentials/Windows Defender related update [no description/information available]
KB3068708 Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry more info
KB3022345 Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry more info
KB2952664 Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7 more info
KB2990214 Update that enables you to upgrade from Windows 7 to a later version of Windows more info
KB3035583 Update installs Get Windows 10 app in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1 more info
KB3021917 Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements more info
KB3044374 Update that enables you to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to a later version of Windows more info
KB3046480 Update helps to determine whether to migrate the .NET Framework 1.1 when you upgrade Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 more info
KB3075249 Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 more info
KB3080149 Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry more info
KB3075249 Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
Is this kind of stuff stripped if one uses WSUS Offline?
And don't get me wrong - I do have Win 10 on one machine for now but the verdict is still out whether to keep it or not.
We are still very much a Windows 7 household and intend to stay that way - but I do not want be fighting a constant battle with Windows Update trying to close every loophole all day long.
Thoughts?
SOnic.