I found about this a few months ago, it’s a free tool that makes the task of managing the internet access of programs a easy one. For example, you can select exactly which process can access the internet manually, of course blocking some system things on windows will disable the connection totally until reactivated.
With this I can prevent apps from updating when I don’t need it them online.
Each time you execute a new program if it tries to connect to the internet it will be blocked by simplewall and ask you if allow or not.
It is compatible with windows 7 and higher versions.
You should read how to use it and what it does before installing it.
The program is open source and it’s on GitHub: https://github.com/henrypp/simplewall
LittleSnitch if you’re on MacOS, though I gather Apple has been caught overriding users’ rules to phone home, so you may want to combine it with other measures such as a DNS manager.
You have any articles about apple’s behaviour? tia.