Sure. They can do anything they please, as long as they have access to your computer. As long as you're connected to the internet, your computer can "phone home" and take instructions from Microsoft. That's what "Check for updates" does, for example.
> If they do, can we get out of it?
Maybe, with effort, technical tweaks, and being very, very careful about what you allow your computer to do. Otherwise, just lay back and enjoy it. :-/
Buy a Win7 installation DVD, Ultimate, if you want to run the full 32g of RAM.
Disable updates completely.
Download standalone Service Pack 2 to a drive and keep it on hand.
Refuse everything else.
I spent two weeks trying to figure out why my Alienware 17 R5’s screen kept dimming all the time, even though I did my own power settings.
Turns out that a little red pair of “eyes” above the keyboard was tracking my eye movements.
If I looked away for a few, it dimmed.
Killed that thing.
Wish I could install 7 on this thing but there are NO 7 drivers for any of the hardware.
Sucks.