> The question is: why break the onboard updater in the first place? And all those other features? Because none of those features are irreplaceable and/or cruc

> The question is: why break the onboard updater in the first place? And all those other features? Because none of those features are irreplaceable and/or crucial to run a perfectly fine workstation. > if you want to replace everything because microsoft is bad and can't be trusted, then start by replacing the kernel. Unless Windows kernel phones home over some covert physical channel which is undetectable by tools like Wireshark running on a separate gateway (and secretly supported by all routers in existence), there's absolutely zero need to replace the kernel when all said phoning home can be stopped with a properly configured firewall.