Skeet on it so everyone knows its mine

Not setup a Microsoft account. Install a browser that isn’t edge.

Back when I fixed laptops for people I’d load Windows, then drivers if needed, then go to https://ninite.com/ and bulk install the common useful apps.

It’s been years since I’ve done this though. I lost interest in Windows and PCs in general. My laptop is over 10 years old now and runs Ubuntu.

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a gaming laptop but don’t like the idea of spending $1500 on a computer.

Formatting the hard drive.

Then installing linux. Or maybe OpenBSD, these days.

note, I would never use windows 10

I begin disabling all the various tracking/telemetry services

Diable auto-updates, only manual updates.

Create another non-administrator account to use as main account. Set UAC to require the admin account password for admin tasks.

Then I would do what recommended. I only use windows for games. I stick with windows 7/8.1 (8.1 only after heavy deletion of tracking/spyware services)

Click skip setting up internet connection for now.

Swear at the bullshit imposed on me by Microsoft and wonder why the actual fuck did I buy a windows machine over Linux.

Not all is lost, the drive is wipable, the bios maybe, the trusted boot computing bullshit maybe....

Never connect to the internet in Win, strip out all the telemetry, load Linux as the primary boot. I have some large specialized engineering software that only runs on Win. I load it, connect long enough to verify the special licenses and never allow Win to talk to the network again. Linux for everyday tasks and any network usage.