After having my Windows 7 installation turned into an advertising platform for Microsoft’s Windows 10, I was shocked to read that many of the spyware “features” of Windows 10 are being retrofitted to Windows 7. These are reported to be through KB3080149, KB3068708 and KB3075249.

After a little reading, I decided that I disagreed with the Inquirer article regarding KB3080149 as the Microsoft page states “The Diagnostic and Telemetry service collects diagnostics information about functional issues on Windows systems that participate in the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP)” rather than as the Inquirer asserts “a tracking service for diagnostics on functional issues in Windows systems that don’t take part in the Customer Experience Improvement Programme” (emphasis mine). This means that KB3080149 is safe to have as long as you’ve made sure you’ve opted out of the CEIP through the Control Panel and selecting Action Center > Change Action Center settings > Customer Experience Improvement Program settings. The same goes for KB3068708: if you have opted out of CEIP then all is okay.

However, KB3075249, is a different story and makes no mention of being able to opt out through CEIP settings. It can be removed easily with the following steps:

Step 1 – Open up a command prompt

Start->Run and type

cmd

then click OK.

Step 2 – Remove the update

wusa /Uninstall /KB:3075249

While these updates do seem a little worrisome, they are optional updates so you have the choice to install them or not. This article goes into more detail and has some reassurance in the form of a quote from Microsoft:

Windows updates KB3068708, KB3022345, KB3075249, and KB3080149 are all either optional or suggested updates regardless of if the customer is opted in to the Windows CEIP or not. If you are not opted into the Windows CEIP, the functionality of diagnostic services within each update is regulated accordingly.

So that’s okay then 😉