What exactly does KB2952664 do?

Stop emails

Marty,

I am not sure what your response ("Stop emails") means with respect to my (almost two year old) post of April 30, 2014 that you referred to. Can you clarify that for me please.

Recall that approximately two years ago when KB2952664 was first released, its description was this:

"This update helps Microsoft make improvements to the current operating system in order to ease the upgrade experience to the latest version of Windows."

Now, almost two years later, it has become very clear what the purpose of KB2952664 is .... to coerce users into installing Windows 10 ... and that coercion continues to this day .... when users hide KB2952664 (because they do not want Windows 10) and Microsoft unhides KB2952664, and frequently places that update into the "Important" list and selects it .... so users who have Windows Update set to "Install updates automatically" will get Windows 10 installed in spite of having previously indicated to Microsoft (by hiding KB2952664) that they do not want Windows 10.

How many times, and in how many ways, must a user tell Microsoft that they do not want Windows 10 .... before Microsoft honors the customer's decision??

Stop emails

I will continue using Windows 7 for my business until at least 2020, and with it, Office 2003 (because no ribbon menu), QuickBoods 2002 (because GAAP still the same) and Lotus 1-2-3 97 (because nothing comparable). All of which work perfectly with the appropriate compatibility settings.

In 2020, I see a few possibilities, in order of preference:

1. Either MS or somebody else will offer the small business market an O/S similar to Windows 7, with the same functionality and compatibility.
2. Ubuntu or some other version of Linux will become a viable option with either internal or third-party (like WINE) capability  to seamlessly run older Windows-based software.
3. I will continue using my existing system and software (having prepared for the eventual need to do so on new hardware) for all offline work (i.e. bookkeeping, spreadsheets, documents, etc.), and use the least intrusive option available for online activities only. securely transferring files between the two where necessary.

What is not an option is to follow Microsoft's "one size fits all" approach blindly into the cloud. As their current apparent target market matures and needs devices for work that are designed more for work than play, whatever initial success MicroShove might have pushing Windows 10 with their strong-arm tactics will backfire, when the market realizes that (once again) the emperor has no clothes, and (again) reject a product that does not live up to the marketing hype.

As long as they stay in the Optional section I'm not worried at all :)

kb3112343 though was a win-10 toe in the door.

JustAnotherComputerGeek,

I totally agree with you.

Many many customers have valid reasons why they do not want/need Windows 10 installed on their computers.

However, Microsoft does not seem to care about their customer's wants and needs.

Microsoft's long term strategy seems to revolve around increasing their revenue via implementing "software a service" (such as selling subscriptions to various, yet undefined, "services"). Windows 10 is the key to that strategy ... and thus Microsoft needs to have Windows 10 installed on a billion computers in order to make their strategy happen ... regardless of whether their customers want/need Windows 10, Microsoft will continue their coercive tactics in order to get Windows 10 installed.

I have my Windows Update setting set to "Never check for updates". Once a month, I manually check for updates ... I review each update in the list, hide those updates that are known (or suspected) to coerce a Windows 10 installation (or attempt to collect telemetry or attempt to update Windows Update), and only install security updates that are known to be safe (in general, any update that is not labeled as a Security update gets hidden). I also run GWX Control Panel in case Microsoft manages to slip something past me.