“Microsoft has been criticized by privacy advocates in regards to the data hunger of its Windows 10 operating system. The operating system slurps data like there is no tomorrow, especially when systems are set up using the express settings.
Windows 7 and 8 users have been plagued by “upgrade preparation” updates but left alone otherwise up until recently when it comes to this new level of data collecting.
This changed recently with the release of several updates for both operating systems that step up the game.
If these updates [see ghacks.net] are installed on the system, data is sent to Microsoft regularly about various activities on it.
The best way to deal with these updates is to make sure they are not installed. If they have been installed already, you may want to disable them.”
See ghacks.net for details and comments.