[KarlInOhio]

Consumer versions will have NO CONTROL WHATSOEVER when and what Microsoft pushes onto those systems.

Unless I blacklist Microsoft's IP address on my router.

Don't make me go to the nuclear option Microsoft.

[dayglored]

> Unless I blacklist Microsoft's IP address on my router.

You'll likely encounter problems doing that. They have many wide ranges of IPs, and a lot of them are in the Akamai distribution system, so if you block those IPs you're also blocking things you might want from other sources.

Also, I'll bet a steak dinner that they make it so that you HAVE to allow them to connect, to get certain critical functions to work in your system or device, and when they have you, they download the updates.