Mint’s installer makes it pretty easy to set it up for dual boot so you can keep windows on the machine to try things out.

Then there’s VRChat which uses AntiCheat, which is basically a rootkit for windows…

Same. VR is the only reason I’ve still got a PC with windows on it.

There’s been a lot of progress in 15 years. This would be a good time to give it another go. Mint is stupid easy to install along side windows.

“For your convenience, you are now sharing all of your personal files with Microsoft.”

You must have missed the whole fiasco with OneDrive. I personally know people who are still recovering from that one.

You may be experiencing sadness and depression 😅