What exactly does KB2952664 do?

Beware of KB3139929 (in the March Windows Update list).

This is a security update for IE11 ... however it also pulls in several other non-security updates. One of the updates it pulls in (that is not in the Windows Update list) is KB3146449.

Microsoft's description of KB3146449  states this (bold font is mine) ...

This update adds functionality to Internet Explorer 11 on some computers that lets users learn about Windows 10 orstart an upgrade to Windows 10.

So it appears that Microsoft is trying to sneak yet another way of coercing a Windows 10 installation (KB3146449) in an update for IE11 (KB3139929).

You cannot hide KB3146449 because it does not show up in any Windows Update list. It is pulled in when you install the IE 11 update (KB3139929).

More information about this newest attempt by Microsoft to get Windows 10 installed can be found here.

If true, I agree that they crossed the lines into absolute fraud.

It's bad enough if they sneak things by not fully describing them (I no longer apply any non-security update UNLESS I read it and agree to it, and the generic "improvements" doesn't cut it.

But if something claims to be a security update and they slip in annoyware, then that's fraudulent behavior.

Ironically, it's mostly the updates that are preventing me from upgrading to Win10.  I have never upgraded Windows (I get the later release when I get my next PC), and it's possible that I'll have no choice when I buy a new PC, but the fact that you cannot pick and choose updates (take all, or you can't even get security fixes) in Win10 if you don't agree to take everything they shove down your throat, is the main thing stopping me from getting it.

Seems like what MicroShove has learned from Windows 8 is not that it didn't catch on as much as they hoped because it sucked, but that it didn't catch on as much as they hoped because it was optional, and they seem determined not to make that mistake again.

Each new step in the Windows 10 strategy is a little more sneaky, a little more forceful. This latest tactic is nothing short of attacking a user's system with a trojan. Now that a lot of us will no longer accept all security updates without checking them out first, what worries me is what's next? When all of their electronic coercive attempts fail, will they send an armed team to my house to force me to Windows 10 at gunpoint?

Yes -- they got it that people were only accepting the security updates but either completely ignoring the others, or checking them out in details.

NOW you cannot trust them, and even security updates must be checked out.  PLUS, we are NOT ABLE to install this one because it defeats all the work we have done to keep from getting this annoyware/trickware.  So for this hack, a lot of people are vulnerable.

Basically, they now have said "accept this or be hacked".

And that is massively irresponsible.  I hope someone can convince them to back away from this and stop putting their "bug" that is windows 10 into truly critical updates.

(At least it's just IE -- I pretty much only use IE if I have a problem with other browsers.)

The last reply brings up a related security problem.  Adobe Flash Player has lots of patches, and I try to check daily to see if Adobe has released a new patch.  I do this on my Windows 7 desktop.  I also "babysit" a Windows 8.1 laptop for a genealogical society, and for IE 11, flash is built-in.  If Adobe releases a flash update, it will not be installed in 8.1 IE 11 until the next patch Tuesday release.  That makes IE 11 users vulnerable to flash problems.  In fact, I just checked, and there is a new patch to Adobe flash.