which would you choose

Windows Pro doesn't have these issues, only Home. Home doesn't have group policy, so lots of this can't be managed easily. Pro has GP, which is where all this stuff gets controlled by Enterprise organizations.

Even better, LTSC has even less nonsense and only gets security updates (no feature updates, so nothing odd happening).

Get Win10 LTSC. It gets updates 2x/year, has very minimal bloat.

Then get O&O Shutup to reduce bloat even more.

And you can permanently license it using Microsoft's own scripts.

Scripts on Gituub.

This all applies to Win11 too, if you just have to use it.

Many people suggest popOS for a new linux user which is based on ubuntu which in turn is based on debian. I never tried popOS but i found ubuntu hard to get packages or find help with when i was first learning.

I would recomend endeavourOS which is based on arch. In arch, its very easy to get packages and and find help since you can use the aur and the arch wiki . But it might require using the terminal a bit more than PopOS. Dont let that intimidate you however, the terminal is actually not hard to learn and many tools guide you through using it.

Both are better than windows and i would recomend you try them both on your machine. Just download the live image ISOs to a usb that has ventoy installed. Throw some other distros on there too like nobara just to round out your testing.

Then you can always install it on an old computer (even one that windows dosent work well on) or a spare hdd/ssd while testing until you are ready to leave windows for good.

You don’t need to code or use a terminal to use Linux

Didn't Windows 10 also have ads in the start menu from pretty much the start, like Candy Crush and such? Or maybe I just used a bloated OS image, wouldn't be beyond me.

Good thing you don't need to know to code or use a terminal to use linux. Just install popOS! And you're good to go

It's easier than it looks, figure out how to do the first step: create your live boot flashdrive that you would use to install linux to your hdd. Then boot into that and play around before you install. I reccomend to follow along with this nerd in your terminal like it's a class. Once you learn this basic stuff you're pretty much set.

Same

Oh its worse than just screenshots. They’re screenshotting, then they ocr the screenshot and store any text in a highly compressed searchable database.

But it does scan everything you put on your computer and sends it to microsoft

Neither will Windows 11 when I turn that feature off.

—which one do you like better, beef or pork?
—umm, have you tried being vegan?

vegans got a bad rap but they were never as likely to show up in every conversation uninvited as Linux users or weed smokers.

I've always wanted to try that distro just because of the mascot.

[cum explodes everywhere]

I USE ARCH BTW

I think windows 10 is better than windows 11, absolutely.

Have I tried installing the most recent version recently? Fuck no. I hate windows. Last time I installed it, it was for work and it was a server OS. That doesn’t change the reality of differences between 10 and 11.

However, your complaints apply to Win 10 and 11 equally.

Are you saying windows 11 somehow isn't a similar horror show with even more privacy invasion?

I have actually reinstalled recently. I've never had updates re-add or re-enable anything I've uninstalled or disabled. And the setup guide (all the things you deny, deny, deny) hasn't changed much in the last few iterations of Windows. It can also be totally automated to disable or not install pretty much any of those features when you create the installation media, and then you don't even have to manually do anything during setup.

The last thing that just appeared after an update was Copilot. And that was a super simple setting to get rid of.

Anyone who thinks Windows 10 is better

The fundamental difference between 10 and 11 is that in 10 I still remember how to turn off all these features while in 11 its that much more difficult to do so.

Ah, yes. Windows 11 is better because since 11 came out MS made 10 worse.

Hey! HEY! I resent that remark - yeah, sure, maybe it is exactly that, BUT it is also at least in equal parts an attempt to shove ads down the throats of customers who are rendered helpless to resist by the factor you mentioned.

FYI, you have 3 clipboards in X11. You have your standard clipboard usually used with Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, like in Windows. You also have your primary clipboard, which copies any text you highlight and can be pasted with middle mouse button. The secondary clipboard is typically not used. If you don't like the middle mouse paste, stick to the way you are used to. I learnt to make use of the primary clipboard and find that I always realise just how much I miss it when I need to use a windows system.

I'd say 10 doesn't literally take screenshots of your actions every second but would anyone be surprised if it did?

100% true

Fusion 360 is the ONLY reason why I have a Windows partition still. I haven't looked very hard, but I did look and didn't find any ways to run it on Linux without tons of latency or bugs. It is already slow and buggy enough without introducing more.

I play Beat Saber using Steam Link through Linux, so that works just fine.

I havent tried it, and i dont normally recomend snaps but fusion360 is in the snap store.

https://snapcraft.io/install/fusion360/arch

Also searching arch fusion360 (you can replace arch with another distro) gives a few hits that makes me think its possible like this one.

https://github.com/link12765/Fusion-360-Arch-Linux-Script/blob/main/fusion360_install.sh

May I ask is there a reason why you jumping so early? I plan to ride windows 10 ltsc until end or at least as long as most of program works hopeful around 2027.

Extended support for security upgrades for Windows 7 ended on Jan. 10, 2023. So "what it does" should probably not include any connectivity to a public network.

God I miss Windows 7.

That happened one time, and it was caught before it was deployed to 99% of the people using Linux (assuming you're talking about the SSH hack, which was likely State sponsored).

"Thing A is worse than Thing B, because while Thing B definitely does stuff, Thing A has the potential for stuff."

-Microsoft Copeheads.

I can read a repo list. I can't see what windows is doing. It's an entire operating system that has spyware rooted into every nook and cranny of it. Now it takes screenshots of everything you do by default.