Let me put it this way: I always check which updates I install (automatic updates turned off), I didn't install the update mentioned above and I have no nagging whatsoever. So chances are high you hit the nail on the head.

Was just going to post it, good that i bothered to read other posts aswell, usually I don't bother, self-proclaimed "power-users" whining everywhere and luddites crying about having to learn new ways to use computers (they still cry about the start menu - who the fuck even uses a mouse, use keyboard shortcuts people).

Something like this has already been tried ;)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linspire

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Oops, Maighstir already linked it, I’m late to the party…

Indeed, I never saw anything to complain about regarding Vista or 8. Vista just sped up the launching of applications (by adding the search field directly in the start menu so you could do: winkey, start typing the application name, hit return to launch), and 7 and 8 kept working exactly the same way.
Of course, I didn't use the name "Linspire", but the earlier "Lindows" which they had to change because Microsoft complained rather loudly so it might've been a bit easier to miss. I figured that name was a nice reference to Sachys' (sadly unoriginal) idea.

I can already see the Pop-up:
"Microsoft project Skynet autoupdate, please wait 20h and don't turn our computer off."

Hey, Vista with SP2 is basically Windows7 with a older Aero theme. Everyone hated it because they bought cheap-ass 300€ Pavilions with Celerons/some shit AMD E1 equivalents and 512mb-1GB RAM and then cried it don't run so good, especially considering that they did a big rework on driver subsystem and API-s and manufacturers were faggots who couldn't write drviers for a new system. (same problem on GNU/Linux systems aswell actually).
Fuck, Windows 8 was/is perfect actually. After the first few kinks were worked out in 3-4 months it was and still is rock stable. 8.1 only made it better. Only fucking luddites who hate change whined about that. And as I said before, KEYBOARD USAGE people, Put the fucking mouse in your ass.

Heh, how colorful. I can't take that advice though because my ass hole is an exit only orifice. One way traffic only. Nothing goes in and shit comes out... literally... lol.

I just want to thank EVERYONE, and I do mean EVERYONE, for their contributions in this thread. I just re-read the whole thread again and it's both informative and entertaining and thank you all for that.

Yes, I'm old school, so sue me, but I don't want any software I buy doing anything to my computer other than what I want it to. This spamming just _feels_ wrong, you know? I get it, you're offering Windows 10 as a free upgrade for Windows 7 owners. I seriously doubt that there is a single, solitary Windows 7 owner that is hooked to the internet that is not aware of that already. Just STOP the god damned spamming.

I am going to start reading about Linux. This whole episode has made my mind up. Windows 7 will be the last dollars Microsoft gets from me, and if I have to go slow and take all the way until 2020 (when I think support for Win 7 ends) before I completely switch then so be it, but I am going to start reading about it, researching some of the issues insofar as gaming is concerned, and see if I can at least start the process of making the switch.

Gaming publishers and manufacturers, could you please make ALL of your COMPUTER game new releases able to run on the big three computer OS's? (Windows, Mac, and Linux) at a minimum?

I can completely understand you and would probably be in the same boat if I wouldn't have left the ship due to the DRM in Microsofts operating systems a long time ago already.

When Win7 support ends, you could still take if offline, use it for gaming and use Linux for everything else. You seem to have noticed, that gaming is the only thing Windows makes any sense for and even this is rapidly changing thanks to constantly worse backwards compatibility in new Windows versions, the Linux community, improved graphics drivers, Android compatibility, tools like "Unity" and SteamOS.
I've arranged my dual-boot system with partitions that are made for "WinXP = Gaming" and "Linux = Anything". Later on I noticed, that gaming on Linux is far more advanced than I thought and now my NTFS gaming partition is way too big (I rarely boot Win at all) and I'll have to make it into a /home partition for Linux gaming while the 32gb Windows system partition is enough already for the OS and the last few games I didn't yet get to run in Linux.

Of course if you're still unsure, you could switch to Win8(.1) after Win7 although I don't know how much work it is to get this one mostly spyware-free. Anything is better than Windows 10 I guess, but Linux is the most user friendly experience for me atm in addition to the DRM-free greatness.

There are only a few developers that have been porting their games to Linux, but even most of those that have, have done so at a loss, out of the goodwill of their hearts - because it feels right. Linux gaming is a chicken and egg problem, the gamers won't come because there are too few games (and because Windows is good enough and is preinstalled on their machines), and developers can't continue losing money by porting games when for a long time there aren't enough people buying them.

Well, I guess it might be stupid of me (as I'm sure many can/will argue) but yes, I "trusted" a script written by a complete stranger, referred to me by a complete stranger, and which I, in my ignorance of such things, have no way whatsoever of knowing what it contains or does. Yet I feel better trusting such a thing more than I would ever trust the largest, most well known, corporations in the world.

Thank you AndyBuzz, this did the trick beautifully. One click, wait a few minutes for it to run, and no more icon in my tray, and (so far) no more annoying pop-ups trying to get me to upgrade to something I want absolutely ZERO to do with. Go fuck yourself Microsoft, you'll never get another of OldFatGuy's dollars. Even if you did a re-make of the original (and still best IMO) Age of Empires.... (ouch it hurt to say that, but it's true).

Does that happen with native or Wine-wrapped games, Steam or standalone?

The biggest drop is in Heroes of the Storm (Battle.net game) using Wine (via PlayOnLinux). I get distorted sounds sometimes, and often very low frame rates when there's a lot going on (10 guys all on the screen casting things).

Company of Heroes (Steam, Wine-wrapped) runs much slower than before, but still quite tolerable.

Banner Saga (Linux native) was also very buggily slow, but I didn't play enough to look into it much. I didn't play it on Windows, so I have no reference point, and I only did the tutorial, so I'm not sure how that's really performing. But so far, quite poorly.

I wasn't able to get Witcher 2 running at all (Linux native), but I haven't looked into it yet. It gave me a whole page of errors when I tried to run it.

I'm using the highest version of NVidia's drivers that a little program told me to use (Driver Installer or something?). I just looked up this page: http://howtoeverything.net/linux/hardware/installing-nvidia-drivers-in-linux-mint and I haven't done any of that. Perhaps I just need to do some configuring. (edit: that looks like it's all old info according to the comments. I'll look into it more, though)

Well, that’s not like this game would need a remake anyway, it still runs flawlessly on modern OS (read "on GNU/Linux").

And thank you for the laugh! :)
Also in the unlikely case that the script turns out evul, take comfort in the thought that the stranger that suggested it to you is also screwed (along with 3 or 4 of his friends).
But seriously, except setacl.exe (which you could run through VirusTotal.com anyway), everything else is text files that can be opened and examined (I mean in principle, not by you in particular). That's the reason I trusted them in the first place.

Enjoy your less annoying Windows(tm) experience! :)