[Skybird]

GWX Control Panel I saw first mentioned in Woody's blog.

It is a background tool running and monitoring all the time whether your system receives any of the KB updates critical for preparing and downloading the pesty advertising of "Get Windows X!"

Since you already have W10 running, i fear this "control" tool is of no use for you.

Also, while it increases the chance for W7 and W8 users to avoid getting targetted by those critical KB "updates" that first advertise and later automaticaly try to install W10, I seem to recall that in the past there were changes by Microsoft that led to people using GWX CP fetching the unwanted malware nevertheless. It'S good to have it if you are a W7 or W8 user - but do not put all your money on this one alone.

Latest development this year have confirmed me in my scepticism that MS will even mislabel patch content and update descriptions in an effort to lure people into downloading GWX and W10. Its not just shouting and yelling when I say that MS have crossed the red line to right-out cheating and criminal behaviour, imo. People get openly lied to regarding what they download - or are made to believe to download.

The only way to be safe is to cut ties with MS servers, especially all and every download service like Windows Update Service. I myself decided that it is not worth for me to read one hour every day only to keep myself updated about the latest news and tricks in MS' war against its customers, the ratio between time invested and benefits gained calculated extremely badly in the end, so I stopped all updates alltogether, use W7 only as a game launcher and for NOTHING else, and do all surfing, working, writing, editing and so forth via Linux installation. There is a risk involved, since Explorer is deeply embedded in Windows and always does some minor stuff in the background and via internet even when you use another browser or do not browse under Windows at all (thats why your CCleaner always deletes some minor, small Explorer files when you run it, even when you never open Explorer at all and have disabled or maximised all its critical options), but it is the lesser evil. And if my Windows game launching installation gets corrupted, I simply delete it and copy over an image.

Note to all: Windows on-board solution for cloning an image of your HD to an external storage, never was a 100% reliable solution anyway, but since months gets reported to suffer from growing numbers of users saying that they now canno9t even create an image with Windows onboard tools (W7) from start on. Sometimes it is due to lacking virtual memory, it seems, or they messed up their background service settings. But I want to say that here is another tempting opportunity for Microsoft to erode the Windows7 user basis even more - by preventing people from creating security images of their W7 installations so that they cannot install W7 freshly via such an image. I'm just saying. Be on your guard, Microsoft plays stinking foul, and they certainly have not missed this chance to damage W7 this way. If you do a HD image, use a separate software solution, not Windows onboard solution.

Windows 7 was the best OS - and the last operation system! - they ever put together, and now they try so hard to kill its reputation and to destroy it. Shows what crazy lunatics are at the helm on Microsoft's bridge. Its really high time that this ship sinks. And who knows - maybe that would deliver a healing shock to the user community worldwide who still takes it for granted that MS software will be around forever. Or services. Or free use of XYZ. LOL