Boy, the good ole days are gone when it comes to Windows. I am posting just to help anybody that doesn’t know. This is like a creepy wire tap. If you are actually using Windows 11, make sure to disable and or reduce telemetry in Windows 11 (Privacy). If that actually helps, I am sure there are more ways they send data back but the video link is a simple how to for the telemetry. Here is more info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtg_s1GQiMU
No such thing ever existed. All of this has been a work in progress for the last 30 years.
The “good old” Windows XP didn’t send data to Microsoft every 30 seconds. But not because it was a good operating system or because Microsoft was a nice company.
It was the case only due to lack of resources and infrastructure. That’s why every new Windows release featured gradually more spyware. Microsoft was slowly but steadily progressing towards its original goal. That goal never changed.
Some people are severely misinterpreting inability to spy en masse with unwillingness to do so. Microsoft was never unwilling. Not even for a minute.