If all the Windows updates takes ages to install then you really have a issue with your pc.
It's true about the disk usages. You recieve a lot of useless aps like the Xbox one and you can't delete it and I don't have a Xbox.
Registery is something for pro users. Do not change something in the registery. Today I resolved a issue with Windows updates and needed to change something in the registery.
And spyware....it depends what you are installing or whatever. I never had a virus or spyware on my Windows pc.
At least in the virtual environment, I am confident that MS will leave us alone. In fact, it is possible to install now unsupported Windows in virtual environment. As long as it does not go to the internet, it is quite safe.
I can run Windows 2000 and use Firefox on Zorin to visit websites for example.
Because I also use Windows for a lot of other things so I'm more a Linux/Windows users. I use Linux on my laptop because it's a lot saver because it's a mobile device.
I am on the same boat.
I need Windows software for my real job.
I had a big security issue some years ago with bare-metal Windows. That was a turning point for me to switch over to Linux and run Windows as a virtual machine. Surely I lose some computer power for virtualization but I now enjoy a security of Linux along with a convenience of Windows only software.
You can have your cake and eat it too!
Windows updating is terrible, its from the days when microsoft got hooked behind the internet. Everytime you have to reboot and the updated files dont get deleted (the .cab files) they are sitting there eating your space. My computer is perfectly fine, its the ways windows wants to force things that sickens me.
In windows 10 they use telemetry to track things, in Windows 11 they go further. You give them permission to track you and save data about you or how you use your computer and such.
So yes it is major spyware and a big privacy breach.
Thats the reason why i switched to linux this year.
You are correct .... it isn't that the majority of people are doing something illegal it is just I don't want someone selling my info to someone else who maybe doing who knows what with it while everyone makes millions off my privacy .... ALL big tech companies are doing that now days and getting away with it .... so I have dumped all of them .... social media ... google .... M$ etc. .....
We all have plenty to hide.
PIN's. Bank account numbers. Tax statements.
Finances extends beyond that...
Marketing preferences. Interests. Once these become a commodity for trade, privacy is an issue but not the major issue.
The major issue is that you only get exposed to the things that algorithm thinks that you are interested in.
You are no longer exposed to ideas that challenge your assumptions.
No longer exposed to the other news that counters slant and bias.
No longer exposed to anything outside of your Interest Bubble, which isolates a person and promotes a form of ignorance.
This is creating damaging division that is affecting us all.
In this day and age, it is impossible not to give any personal information online. My strategy is divide and conquer.
Amazon has my purchase history.
Spotify has my music preference.
Google has my search results only in a virtual machine Windows which I use exclusively with a local account.
Mega has my cloud drive.
Those entities are not exchanging their data (yet).
By spreading a personal data in different hands, I am avoiding to be profiled. One of the reasons I quit macOS was that I could not take this data mining through iMessages, iTnes, iCoud etc.
During lockdown from March 2020 to end August 2021 I was working from home and only ever used GNU/Linux for my day-to-day work. The only exception to this was a VM of Windows 7 then 8 to access an email sub-account used by many users for work requests, and a free Braille translator programming that caused screen flicker in Linux version. My daily office go to was SoftMaker Office - far superior to MS Office, my workflow increased 100% more efficient using Text Maker over Word. This and pdf Studio Pro from Qoppa.
As far as cell phones go I never keep my WiFi or Blue Tooth on .... if i need something from the net like a new app or what ever I use my laptop ..... put it on a flash drive and transfer it to my cell phone .... so the cell phone never gets a chance to talk to the web .... I also have all google functions turned off and permission to use the web disabled .... so there are ways around it ...
In the past I just rooted my cells phones and deleted even priority app permissions for those apps that demanded net usage .... but that is another story ... LOL
Undoubtedly .... when I was learning how to root my cell I spent many long hrs on that forum .... rooting a phone ain't like installing Zorin .... mess up and you brick it .... LOL
Stopped rooting my cells when I found out when you buy a new phone you can't give the old one to the relatives .... gave a rooted one to my nephew and he couldn't use it
So I took it back and attempted to remove the root and I bricked it so I had to pay a tech to reinstall the OS .... he did but the phone could never be updated or it would break again and he stated it couldn't be fixed ..... so no more rooting cell phones for me .... LOL
But I also need Linux knowledge for my job for a large application (with CentOS as a layer) that i'm administrating.
and eat it too!