How to completely prevent Win7 from upgrading to Win10

Just got this question from BF:

Hello Woody,

I want to do everything possible to prevent Win10 installing on two Win 7 computers that I use to earn my living.

I have uninstalled KB3035583 and set Windows Updates to “Check and ask me, etc.”

Here’s what I’m doing now, daily:

-Power off every night. Run user data backup before powering off.
-Confirm Windows Updates is still set to “Check and ask me before downloading and installing”
-Run Never10 to confirm that the two registry settings are set to disable the update
Some days, I’ll open regedit and peek to confirm, but Never10 seems to do the trick.
-Check C:\ to confirm that c:\$Windows.~BT has not been created and downloaded into
-Search installed updates for KB3035583 to insure it hasn’t been stealthily reinstalled.

Here are my questions:
1-Can you recommend any additional one-time or daily steps?
2-Do you have any concerns about what I’ve already done?
3-Should I also uninstall KB2952664, KB3150513, and KB3021917?
4-Will it be safe to turn automatic updates back on after July 29?
5-Meanwhile, would I be safer just to turn updates completely off?

Thanks so much for all you’ve written on this.

You’re working too hard!

If you want to keep Win10 off your machine, run GWX Control Panel. (Never10 is good, too, but I know GWX Control Panel better.) GWX Control Panel will flip the registry bits, delete the hidden folders, get rid of the icon… everything, all at once.

You should turn Auto Update to “check but don’t install” per the Automatic Updates tab at the top of this page. Then, every time you manually run updates, run GWX Control Panel again, just to make sure.

While I’ve been recommending that folks turn off automatic updating for more than a decade, I also recommend that you check and update from time to time. It’s important that you keep updating, for the security patches!

Some people are rightfully concerned about Win7’s increased propensity to snoop. I haven’t had time to run down all the details – and there are many, many allegations – but for now, I’m not overly concerned about the quantity of data flowing to Microsoft. If you use the Chrome browser, or an iPhone or Android phone or tablet, you’re already sending out a lot of data. I’ve seen no indication that Microsoft is any worse than the Scrooglers or Applers. Conversely, I’ve seen no convincing evidence that Microsoft is any better.

But if you really, really want to keep Microsoft away from logging your activities, there’s a long list of KB articles you can uninstall, a bad patch list, that you can use, if you’re so inclined.

No idea what’ll happen after July 29. Lots of speculation, no real answers.