On 2/20/2016 1:26 PM, Mayayana wrote:
| Exactly. The last batch of machines I built were
| XP boxes. As ALL the updates were already released,
| I could safely install ALL of them and then remove
| the update mechanism (nothing new to be gained with it).
|
| But, moving to a more current OS -- especially one that
| WANTS to go poking around in your box -- means you have
| little practical choice in the matter.

?? I have two Win7 computers. I don't enable
Windows Update on either one of them. I use
XP for getting things done. My main Win7 box is
the sacrificial lamb for enabling javascript online.
I put AV on that one, for good measure, but disable
most services, including Windows update. It's
simply not needed.

And you are relying on Windows to honor your wish NOT to
enable updates.

Do you likewise rely on windows 10 NOT to track your
activities -- simply because you *told* it not to?
Which activities constitute tracking in YOUR mind?
Are you sure MS doesn't have a rationale for those *particular*
activities "to provide better service", "to assist in
troubleshooting problems", "to..."?

| If you're going to enable Windows Update then
| you're probably leaving your students to be tricked
| into Win10.
|
| I can remove the executables so the updates never happen.
| But, that means any hardware that is received as a donation
| must have driver support for the older OS's.

What's that got to do with enabling Windows Update?

You said:
"If you're going to enable Windows Update then
you're probably leaving your students to be tricked
into Win10."
I replied:
"I can remove the executables so the updates never happen."
I.e., so windows can't even *chose* to IGNORE the "disable updates"
setting (cuz you are relying on windows to do what you've
told it to do). As such, there (should be) no way for updates
to be offered -- unless a user visits a MS service (web page, etc.)
that tries to explicitly offer that option.

But, the effect of disallowing Windows 10 (via update or any
other means) forces:
"any hardware that is received as a donation must have driver
support for the older OS's."
As donations get NEWER (simply a consequence of the passing of time),
finding drivers for that NEWER hardware for OLDER OS's becomes
problematic -- they probably NEVER write an XP driver for hardware
on a machine released in 2016!

[You can verify this by trying to purchase a "current" machine
and seeing for which OS's it offers support. Of course, you
*may* be able to get older drivers for SOME of the hardware
(with some effort and some risk of uncertainty). Or, you
may be completely SoL.]

(By extension, which drivers are simply not available for machines
designed in 2013 -- which are now being donated for these uses?)

If you get a computer that you want to put Win7 on,
you go online and get drivers for the hardware. If there
are no drivers then so be it. Enabling Windows Update
won't help with that.

You're conflating two different issues. Please reread my comments
(restated here).