It's really simple. If you clean install Windows 10 and use your Windows 7 key to activate it, then the Windows 7 key is used and therefore can't be used to activate a second OS. Just as things have always been.

If you upgrade, then use the rollback feature, Windows 7 will remain activated as it was before the upgrade because Microsoft still sees it as a Windows 7 key.

When you upgrade to 10, 10 does not use the Windows 7 key, the upgrade replaces the Windows 7 key with a "digital entitlement key". Once this is done, the machine is registered with MS as a Windows 10 eligible machine with digital entitlement (a Microsoft term) and therefore will allow a clean install, on the same machine. Which is why you don't need to use ANY key when adding 10 back to the machine as a dual boot.

The difference boiling down to this. Once you activate a clean install of 10 with the 7 key, the 7 key is now a "used" key and will not activate another OS. Not a new idea.

it's in the privacy statement:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/

No...says nothing of the sort. Cookies/Web beacons....but no hard drive scanning nor emails/conversations, etc.

The whole issue at question is just how granular the info collected is, and to what use it's being put.

No one but MS knows that. From there the road forks: One direction? Evil use! Pictures of your undies! Treason! Aluminum foil!

The other? Marketing crap, your ad profile, big data, research for more services to offer. 

You can do a lot to block a lot of that and at the same time sacrifice features of the OS. You can't block it all. Real world.

crazy! Everyone knows that third-party programs have been a HUGE positive for choosing Windows, imagine having to reinstall and reconfigure software, games, mods, etc after every update.. Aaaaargh! Nope. I think I will keep Windows 7 and maybe just get a new rig in 4/5 years, with new hardware, VR, etc.. ooh.. hopefully something exciting! I don't need Windows 10 now.. at least not until they conquer tha promising code of Super foil!   

The privacy statement is like 41 pages in length. I guess it may come down to how one interprets their statements. From my perspective it says they can collect whatever data they can and use it anyway they want.

Content. We collect content of your files and communications when necessary to provide you with the services you use. For example, if you receive an email using Outlook.com, we need to collect the content of that email in order to deliver it to your inbox, display it to you, enable you to reply to it, and store it for you until you choose to delete it. Examples of this data include: the content of your documents, photos, music or video you upload to a Microsoft service such as OneDrive, as well as the content of your communications sent or received using Microsoft services such Outlook.com or Skype, including the:

and while you can opt out of many of these unwanted data gathering processes, it may be already too late as you have to install the OS first in order to opt out.

how true.

I think you're reading too much into that.  Of course they would have to collect content for email and anything they store for you, it's the only way it can be stored for you to access it.  Any email service stores the content - that's why it's still there when a person logs in to check their email.  If they didn't collect the content for files sent to OneDrive, people would be uploading to vapor.

I wouldn't worry too much about that particular section.

I agree with you, starkers.

There are two sides to every issue. The practical side and the emotional side.
A company can install Windows 10 and make people do their work on this platform.
This forum is for people who LIKE Windows and when you realize you don't want to use Windows 10 it's a sad moment.

I felt I lost something and I don't think I am the only one who stares with disbelief at what happened to Windows. I like what Stardock does and I will probably keep my subscription as long as "old Windows" is around.

that just reads like some sort of practical loophole that ms turns a blind eye on (if dual boot derived from same key is disallowed). because there's no real difference between the 2, licensing wise. rolling back from win10 should mean you are giving up the win10 entitlement licensing wise, even if that doesn't happen in practice, not least because ms wants more people on win 10.

i clean installed win10 on my new machine with an old retail win7 key and under product id, it says the device is activated with a digital entitlement. i pretty sure i can legally transfer the retail win 7 license onto another machine if this one is scrapped, and then upgrade it to win10, or clean install win10 directly, because it's the same thing, until the freebie upgrade period is finished. after that, can still transfer win 7 onto another machine (might perhaps need to phone ms if done too many times?).

I don't disagree with you and the process you describe is inherent for emails. I do think that we have some expectation of privacy but it seems that MS is changing the ball game by mining this data for whatever. I was only attempting to point out that the perceived perception of not mining your emails isn't true anymore. Along with all of the other privacy notifications that you can not expect.

I do agree with you, Doc, that the privacy statement is ambiguous at best, and that people can read more into it than is there.... or a lot less than is there.  It was crafted that way, to be vague, confusing and shadowy. 

As for not scanning emails or conversations?  How do you think they target users with specific ads... based on [users own] key words?  Google and Yahoo have been doing it for yonks, and it has been a great source of income for them, so why would Microsoft, as a business for profit, not want to do it?

Also, and here's the $64,000 question, if Microsoft does NOT scan hard drives, how can if find 'non-preferred' software and uninstall it?   Being this is what the OP is about, it is a pertinent and important question.  For Microsoft to know non-preferred program are on a particular machine, it would seem, it must be scanning hard drives in order to see them.  Surely?

Sadly, the Windows of old is gone, and with Microsoft's business model changing to rival that of Apple's and Google's, there is little or nothing to like or trust about it anymore.  This Windows as a 'service' thing is a bad, bad thing and will sting users more and more as it evolves.  It's not about users and/or their needs anymore, but about profit and what's best for Microsoft.  Users, <read former Microsoft Customers> have become commodities for it to manipulate and use to further its grip on the software market. 

Worse still, Microsoft knows it has a captive market.  People like and trust Apple even less... not to mention its prohibitive pricing.  And then there's Linux, which most will agree is not quite ready for mainstream just yet.... though it is catching up fast.  So, with this captive market, Microsoft knows that Windows 10 will surpass the 200 million devices thus far and pretty much make Apple computers irrelevant... exept to a handful of fanbois.  This is not a good thing!  whether you like Apple or not, it is necessary, not only as an innovator but as an option. 

There needs to be viable alternatives to Windows 10, because if there's not we're all fucked.

Bypassing ALL the 'FUD' which is only good for the naïve amongst us, there is really only ONE issue with Win 10.

'Forced' updates [and inherent need for program 'rejection'] mean the OS you use is a perpetual Beta [and thus potentially flaky.]

It is not just corporate users but ALSO private individuals who want 'reliable' computing.

Microsoft has chosen what they perceive to be 'forced reliability/conformity'  which, if a PC user really wanted then they'd move to Apple anyway.

PC users want function AND diversity, not a closed environment of dictation.  For that we have Apple.

If and when Microsoft enables actual CHOICE for update acceptance I see exactly no reason to declare it any more [or less] evil than any other vintage of MS OS.

The rest of the hysteria is plain garbage fuelled by that 'FUD'....

Okay, believe that if you want... stick with Win 10.... it's not my privacy funeral.

Sadly, though, too many people are thinking the same way - or are oblivious or simply don't care - thus enabling Microsoft to do as it fechen pleases.

Thats the trouble with the world, people have become too complacent, blaze and/or "tell somebody who gives a fuck".

No wonder we're losing rights and priveleges by the dozen... why governments and corporations believe they have free reign to screw us over time and time again.

That's right!  The modern public LETS them.

FUD, what does that mean, did I miss something. Sounds derogatory sort of like "us" and "them" in the context.

Fear, uncertainty and doubt.

Speccy was removed from my system as well.  I have not tried reinstalling it as I really don't need it but I wonder if it would work in compatibility mode? 

Fricken Ugly Duckling. 

Nah, seriously, it's a term people use when others point out the pitfalls of using something they think is okay.... like Win 10, for instance.

Frankly, I don't really care.  I know I'm doing the right thing for me by refusing to accept/install Win 10, and that is all that matters... that I'm not saddled with it, now or ever.

Speaking of FUD, anyone else notice that there have been no Win7 security update notifications in quite a while?  I've had my system set to notify me when important updates are available but no systray notifications have appeared since maybe November.  Out of curiosity, I just checked Windows Update manually and lo and behold, 34 important updates are waiting.  Same on another rig so it must be 'server side'.  Inscrutable, MS is.

thanks Seth.

 Use the portable version: https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download/portable