What exactly does KB2952664 do?

Anonymous
2014-04-27T00:12:24+00:00

KB2952664 was published on April 22, 2014 and appears in my Windows Update List (I am running Windows 7 Pro - 64 bit).

The description of this update is vague:  "This update helps Microsoft make improvements to the current operating system in order to ease the upgrade experience to the latest version of Windows."

Anyone have more information on what this update actually does? If its sole purpose is to ease the "upgrade" from Windows 7 to Windows 8 (or 8.1 or 8.1 update), then I'll just permanently hide KB2952664 (I have no desire or intention to "upgrade" my Windows 7 system to any flavor of Windows 8).

If its purpose is to ease what would be a true Windows 7 upgrade to a yet-to-be-announced Windows 7 SP2, then I'll keep it (but still would like to have more information about what KB2952664 actually does before installing).

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-03-22T01:29:04+00:00

    I do not recommend this update. My Windows 7 is fine until I install this update. After that, I am not able to use my Cisco Any Connect VPN connection which pretty much shuts me down. I hid the update (using right click when viewing the available updates).

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-06-08T13:21:48+00:00

    More Breaking News - When I did a Windows Update yeste3rday, KB2952664 re-appeared.  I will install it shortly for the 30th time.  I assume that the patch updates CompatTelRunner.exe, but I have done no additional research,

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-06-08T15:50:02+00:00

    See this site for more information on KB2952664.

    I have never installed KB2952664 ... it allows Microsoft to collect telemetry data.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-06-12T18:05:36+00:00

    The patch installs

         \windows\system32\CompatTeRunner.exe

    When I did my weekly backup of my c:-drive, I saw another ..exe in that directory:

         aitstatic.exe

    and a Google search shows:

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_10-other\_settings/application-impact-telemetry-static-analyzer/6a522831-597a-47a6-99e3-c92f96c7e0ad

    and a response on that forum page has

    "The Microsoft Application Impact Telemetry Agent is installed with Windows and runs as a scheduled task when Windows boots. Application Impact Telemetry Agent is designed to collect varius [sic] system information and report to Microsoft as part of Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). CEIP collects information about how our customers use Microsoft programs and about some of the problems they encounter."

    I do not know what patch installs or updates this.

    If one is concerned about MS "snooping:, then one could rename those two executable files.  I do not know if doing so will cause lots of EventLog entries.

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  5. Anonymous
    2017-06-12T18:56:05+00:00

    Hasn't this go on long enough?

    They did enough damage to their reputation with all the trickery to get people to downgrade to Win10; they've also made it basically impossible to avoid it by 2020 (next year or late this year for the newest processors).

    Can't they end this trickery of slipping in telemetry in with other updates?  As is, I now only accept security upgrades unless I really really need something, becuase of all this nonsense.  Almost none of their updates says what it is (most "resolve issues" without saying what).  I don't have time to open each one to see what it does, and besides, when I did, they don't say much, and certainly wouldn't say "we added something to spy on you behind your back").  As is, I think they snuck on something back in the tricked Win10 downgrade days, claiming to be a security upgrade, but either was not that at all, or it included a little "bonus".

    We shouldn't have to be using this thread to try to "catch" them, they should get back some degree of trust by stopping this.

    I'm already thinking about Linux for my next computer.  Will I do that?  Likely not, but while I use it comfortably at work, I had NEVER considered it at home until this Win10 fiasco.

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