They are also adding what they call telemetry, but which I classify as spyware. Spying and ads are what some people accept as a consequence of receiving free hardware or software, but I paid for my computers and licenses, so I expect my OS vendor to respect that.
It's not necessary or useful to debate me on these issues. These are my current opinions, and until I learn otherwise I intend to manage my systems accordingly.
An inadvertent or forced upgrade to Windows 10 would be catastrophic to our workflow. Also, I will not be ceding control of my systems to unstoppable updates like we all have been forced to accept on our phones. Therefore, I turned off automatic updating, and now I am being forced to update manually, all because Microsoft blended their threats into their security update channel.
Sadly, the task of reviewing each update to evaluate whether it is benign or harmful is daunting. Microsoft's KB pages can sometimes help but are also very opaque and I would rather place my trust in a third party. I have accumulated a list of updates to avoid, mostly by combing through various forums. This method is inefficient and very likely fail-prone.
So, I just joined HN to ask: Does anyone know of an authoritative and trustworthy website that reviews Microsoft updates and provides lists of updates to avoid? Basically, I'm looking for a Microsoft Windows 7 update curator. What are my hacker friends doing about this?
