I've been aggressively firewalling Windows machine for ages now. Something like https://www.binisoft.org/wfc.php makes it easy to deal with.

Any executable like Copilot will never get access to the internet.

If I have to treat an operating system like a hostile actor, I am just not going to use it for anything serious. After my current Alienware system depreciates, I will be looking elsewhere, such as Valve.

but what i dont understand is if windows is such a disaster with their privacy policies, why would you trust their built in firewall to stop them? its all about trust.