I first learned about the GWX console on a thread here last week, but unfortunately I've been on the road a lot and hadn't been able to sit down and look into it.
JB
Don't have auto updates on. I cannot imagine an update coming out in the future that won't have some aggressive means of getting Win 10 on the computer. In theory, updates are good as the plug up vulnerabilities and keep everything current, but they also add instability and they can also add other undesirable items as well. A list that adds in telemetry to Win 7 and Win 8:
KB2952664 Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7
KB2990214 Update that enables you to upgrade from Windows 7 to a later version of Windows
KB3021917 Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements
KB3022345 Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry
KB3035583 Update installs get windows 10 app in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1
KB3068708 (replaces KB3022345) Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry
KB3075249 Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
KB3080149 Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry
I'm always leary of 3rd party solutions to this type of thing. Maybe I've become too much of a tin foil hatter as I've gotten older, I don't know.
Casey had posted how to go in and get it to permanently stop with the "nag" as well. I think there is also a write up on it at Microsoft's website as well.
Unfortunately, Windows is a big player and a lot of software is written for it, so I don't think there will be much in the way that you can do to totally avoid any future version of the OS. For me personally, I'm only running isolated instances of Windows from here on out.