Having done a fresh install of Win7 recently, I can confirm that only installing important updates, not treating recommended updates the same, and being highly

Having done a fresh install of Win7 recently, I can confirm that only installing important updates, not treating recommended updates the same, and being highly selective of which optional updates (i.e. drivers only) prevents any of the Windows 10 upgrade stuff from being installed. This doesn't help anyone who has previously done things differently (which was generally accepted as the best practice), but if you're setting up any new hosts, the above may work out as well for you as it has for me.