caboy
I first gave attention to Windows 8.1 and 10 having dramatically changed around about 5 years ago. PCs that had been comfortable to use all day, were suddenly immediately painful after updates (Windows10 especially). Customers were complaining of similar.
At present, my choice is to do a fresh reinstall of Windows 8.1, and to never let it do any updates whatsoever. Windows 7 appears to still be okay if the last batch of updates are never installed, and, new graphics drivers are not installed.
My primary PC is an offline Windows 8.1 with zero updates, which is reasonably comfortable to use. For online work I prefer to use a Linux distro like Solus or EndeavourOS, which are extraordinarily comfortable for me personally.
Interestingly, since the 90s I used to buy and sell a lot of Microsoft software (I still have my blue windbreaker and caps with the MS logos), but aside from my buying a Windows 8 DVD in 2016, I haven't bought nor sold any Microsoft software at all since 2013: it's saved me over a thousand bucks. 😉