Pay for Win10 Pro or suffer the consequences. You have more control of everything. Most important is updates which you can defer for a long amount of time. While this may not be the most secure. It gives them time to fix any issues before it’s installed on your computer.
There is a power shell script on Github that I’m going to link. This is to remove all, and I mean all, the bloatware that Win10 comes w/. I’m still evaluating it but I’ve had it running on one of my laptops for about three weeks w/ no issues. It does turn of Windows Defender so be aware: https://github.com/Sycnex/Windows10Debloater
All operating systems are what you make of them. Linux has its advantages but it’s not for a casual user. There are many programs that won’t run on it, even in Wine. And learning how to use it has a steep curve at times. It can be for a casual user if all they want to do is use the internet and edit documents. For that I recommend PopOS. But there are many driver issues especially for gaming, not that I expect most here to be into that.
I tend to try out any new flavor of Linux in a VM on my server or one of my spare laptops. I still haven’t found one to replace Windows. There’s always a compromise that I don’t want to make. But I could say the same thing about switching to Macs even though I use iPhones and iPads already. A clean install of an OS, even Win10, has a habit of clearing up lots of issues. Kind of like clearing CMOS on a motherboard. Puts your back to square one so you can start over. Microsoft has made it very easy to install Win10.