I have a single windows 11 system while everything else is on some form of Linux distro.
That windows system has never been connected to the internet, and it has been great without ever causing any of the typical update issues (although I update applications/components manually over an isolated NAS link).
It's sad to see that everyday users have gotten habituated to these constant workflow braking updates. No wonder many people I know are jumping to the Apple ecosystem after getting a taste with a M2.
I remember when I went on my lunch break and came back to see my PC part way through upgrading to Windows 10, which I never agreed to. So yeah, Windows update can definitely act bizarrely.
I mean... having updates that suck is not a good solution but for sure do every update please.
Its just excrutiatingly slow, like 5min one time where Fedora Kinoite is more stable, doesnt fuck up other partitions and goes in the background while using the system!
Android (GrapheneOS) is even better with updates in the background and very low CPU usage, one reboot and you are there.
Or just regular mutable Linux distros seperating packages that dont need a reboot from packages that do.