I switched to Linux when the "We've scheduled your free update to Windows 10!"-like popup started appearing again and again on my Win7 machine even though I disabled it. I didn't like not having a choice and they only got worse from there. Meanwhile, you have full control over every part of a Linux system. You can even uninstall the update manager if you feel like it.
They're getting there with windows 11.. first it was 'hey you're compatible with windows 11' now they've stepped up to a full screen non-skippable screen a big 'upgrade to windows 11' but still with a button to stay on windows 10 hidden in the corner. It's only a matter of time before that button disappears.
I tried the Win11 compatibility app once, it said i wasn't compatible due to some BIOS settings I needed to change. Nah, I'm good, and it hasn't bugged me to upgrade since.
I remember a lot of folks waking up one day to find their system had borked itself overnight installing Win 10 without their permission. It doesn't matter to Microsoft if it'll actually work.
Everybody does it at least once, just to see. Usually it’s just to see. MS support reps still learning the power of grep …. “Where are the backups” is both a question you want to hear … and really don’t want to hear. (At the start, it says they’re… at least thorough… an hour to the end of the patch window… not so much.)
Remove the update manager? Remove the bootloader and all kernels if you want to - you might if you're preparing a container image, it won't stop you. Remove glibc and init? Fine, if that's what you want - might have no need for those if you're prepping it up for embedded.
The price of having a computer that does exactly what it's told is that you have to know what to tell it. But that's well worth while.