Years ago I wrote how I was using Wireshark and saw were even pressing a number key on the MS calculator causes the OS to send the data up to MS.
I'm still using a WRT router to block all MS traffic. To install the BLE software for Dave's 121GW, I had to pull it from the store. I let my guard down just long enough for them to push a new update which had additional IPs that had to be accounted for. I have not changed anything after that. 10 still tries to send data non-stop but at least the PC is usable.
I had been using an old version of Firefox but recently was forced to "upgrade". I pitched FF and tried Opera for a day, until I learned it was sold off to China. Then I tried Vivaldi and ran into problems with it that I wasn't smart enough to sort out. So now it's back to FF and setting the admin rights to block its updates. Too bad really as I like Vivaldi.
What happened with Vivaldi for you? - I've got it playing all four seasons here! 
Sorry, I was derailed and forgot about this post. I removed Vivaldi after their last "upgrade" and was still seeing the same problem. There was a specific message about trying to locate the sites before timing out. I suspect it's attempting to use an address that I have locked out. FF, IE and even the Chinese versions of Opera did not have the problem so I went back to FF. If you like, I can reinstall Vivaldi and see if I can sort out the cause.
All I can say is that Vivaldi, in the latest release, is working reliably for me on 3 different PCs here.
I'm sure it does, however hearing this doesn't help solve the problem I was seeing.
It's odd as there were no plug-ins, just a clean install. I disabled many of the security features and it had no effect. What ever the problem was, it appears to have something to do with certain sites. For example it had a problem with minicircuits.
Their help talked about them having some hard coded IPs but the ones they mentioned are not being blocked. Maybe they changed some of these. One thing is certain, if they tried to use anything tied to MS, it would not work as I have every address I am aware of for them blocked. Hard to say.