Return of revenge of KB2952664
So, it seems that Microsoft KB2952664 may actually be more invasive than (I) previously thought. This is the Microsoft snooping / reporting configuration patch that calls home allegedly to facilitate win10 upgrades.
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3168397/microsoft-windows/microsoft-re-releases-snooping-patches-kb-2952664-kb-2976978.html (Yes that is from 2017 but it is for background.)
While investigating this, I found that someone noted it could be installed MULTIPLE times and you might need to remove it multiple times. Sure enough all 3 of my win7 machines at home had it installed multiple times. One machine had it more than 5 times.
The solution to this seems to be to execute the following command repeatedly until it says it is no longer installed and then reboot:
wusa /uninstall /kb:2952664 /norestart
P.S. KB2976978 is the win8 version of this snooping patch. If you are on win8 and happy with it, you probably want to do the equivalent removal on win8, but most people find win10 better than win8. YMMV.
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3168397/microsoft-windows/microsoft-re-releases-snooping-patches-kb-2952664-kb-2976978.html (Yes that is from 2017 but it is for background.)
While investigating this, I found that someone noted it could be installed MULTIPLE times and you might need to remove it multiple times. Sure enough all 3 of my win7 machines at home had it installed multiple times. One machine had it more than 5 times.
The solution to this seems to be to execute the following command repeatedly until it says it is no longer installed and then reboot:
wusa /uninstall /kb:2952664 /norestart
P.S. KB2976978 is the win8 version of this snooping patch. If you are on win8 and happy with it, you probably want to do the equivalent removal on win8, but most people find win10 better than win8. YMMV.