MSI and Gigabyte have a rep for firmware that has holes or phones home, but AFAIK Lenovo mobos aren't known for this.

Fresh install of Ubuntu or Fedora that formats the HDD should rid you of anything dubious.

It's called Windows Update Binary Table, and Lenovo did it 10 years ago on one model of their Ideapad (budget, low-end) line. The echo seemed to have hit them hard enough to never attempt it again.

You can patch out WUBT by replacing your bootloader with one that strips them out, though most boards have a toggle in the BIOS by now (my ASUS AM5 board had this anti-feature and the toggle too). Though you probably get more crapware on Windows Update these days.

Thanks, that's what I thought. Good thing too, have a couple ThinkPads of differing vintages around, both Linux.