Ask HN: Is the Win 7 experience better since the free upgrade to 10 expired?

Now that the Windows 10 free upgrade period is over, is the Windows 7 experience better? Have the nagging pop-ups and sneaky attempts to force an upgrade stopped? Is the user still in control of things like if/when Windows Updates run; turning off Defender; turning off telemetry data; etc.; or has MS forced that stuff through Win 7 patches and ruined a perfectly good OS? If it's as good as it used to be, I'm thinking of upgrading my Win 10 VM to Win 7.