Nooo, my issue is purely with little flashing icons saying that I have 200+ updates waiting for me. There are better conspiracies anyway. Did you know that many people think that the US government *might* be spying on our email communication? Hmm, I wonder if such software exists to get round this issue... haha Ah, so this is what DummyPLUG meant. This is a good idea. I hadn't thought of this. There seems to be no update communication coming through at the moment, but there is nothing to say this wont change in the future once Microsoft have realized online updates aren't pissing me off enough .
One of the solutions: 1. Gather all IP addresses of all Ms servers. 2. Block them with your router. 3. Keep your blacklist up to date.
Here is what I do to block untrusted software to call home. Note that my windows 7 is genuine but I don't trust any software by default. You would be shocked to know that most modern software now call home and send information about you and your privacy, often on on crypted port (443) but many use default port 80. Some will say they have nothing to hide, nice, but is this a reason to allow leaking of your personnal information ?! I don't think so. General recommendations for securing your network and still have a great internet experience: -First, buy a decent router that can run alternative linux firmwares and flash it asap. With this, all your lan machines are protected -Using iptables or router firewall, block ALL inbound AND outbound port -Install a web proxy on your router, using a non standard port (just in case), possibly with authentification -set your browser to use this proxy, thus, you can surf the web without problem. -you can make some firewall holes for outbound connections for somes services you use : vpn, ftp, smtp etc -disable all automatic updates and unused services -dont run cracked or untrusted software on your host, always run them in your virtual machines -for added security and call home logging, install Windows 7 firewall control on windows or little snitch on the mac -don't allow your browser open a web page without your consent (I mean, don't allow the browser exe to be launched). Some programs try to run your default browser to open a web page. I use an little program I've written for this job. - For android phones extra security, root them if you can and install AFwall+ with custom iptables rules. You will be protected when not connected to your lan. Smartphone security is even more critical than desktop. I'm amazed how people don't even think about it. It's one the the reason I'll never buy an iphone for example.
something that may be easier is maybe trying the hosts file route like some activators do. No idea if it would do anything, but if you comment out the # this may do something the OP is looking for. # Block Microsoft Activation # 127.0.0.1 mpa.one.microsoft.com # 127.0.0.1 sls.microsoft.com # 127.0.0.1 genuine.microsoft.com # 127.0.0.1 wat.microsoft.com # 127.0.0.1 mpa.microsoft.com
Probably noob question, but lets say I want a computer in my network to be out of internet so I set this machine DNS to 127.0.0.1 This machine can't access internet but will be accesible from outside (internet) ?