every software that ever updates has options that are subject to change; a user needs to be proactive in knowing whats running. i do agree we shouldnt need the privacy treadmill, but until we have better consumer laws the treadmill will continue...

as far as powershell scripts; i cant say i am a fan (i do like the potential targeting of offline machines with something like the mentioned website) - but my favorite to date is still: https://github.com/hellzerg/optimizer/

edit: if you end up trying out hellzerg's optimizer: do know that reboot button, once clicked, reboots right meow

Or you can just use Linux.

I love fighting my libinput drivers every time I update. And lately the driver for my laptop keyboard is suddenly crashing without warning prompting a hard reboot every time. This was not an issue prior to a few months ago.

Linux software is not immune to frustrating changes

It's amazing how I've been running Linux as my daily driver for 20+ years and never had problems other people raise about Linux drivers.

The upgrade to KDE 6 (and switching to Wayland) has been particularly painful for me lately. Lots of bugs and stuff not working correctly (like zoom).

So yeah, Linux is not a refuge either.

It's not a refuge from issues, true. But it's a refuge from deliberate issues.

You still have to turn off ads and tracking in firefox.

I don't since I use debian.

AIUI Firefox on debian still has telemetry and phone-home on by default.

The Debian Firefox package ships a config with most of that disabled by default: https://wiki.debian.org/Firefox#Disabling_automatic_connecti...