"Pushing" really is the thing that bother me most about Windows. Just so pushy about a lot of stuff. Putting things here, there, switching it around, turning it off when it was always on, and vice versa. I just have the feeling that it very strongly wants something, and that's not what I want.

Windows as a requirement is really unfortunate. I have the same reasons as you to keep it around. Win compatibility came a really, really long way, but anti-cheat will always be a problem, which cuts out a good chunk of games.