Linux usability has come a long way in recent years. I switched full time to Linux in 2006, but I can absolutely understand those who wouldn't back then.

These days? Unless there is a specific piece of software that can't run on Linux (or under Wine), and there is no suitable replacement for it? Yeah I don't know why you would voluntarily stay on Windows (note voluntarily, if IT policy says you must that doesn't count).

Can you even disable all the ads on Windows 11?

That's great, thank you.

What's frustrating about that is that Microsoft has also gone out of their way to make it difficult to access the [legacy] System Properties (sysdm.cpl), while not fully reimplementing all the features into the Settings app. Including this one.

They've only been working on this 10+ years...

Also found in the GUI:

  System > About > Advanced System Settings link > Hardware tab > Device installation settings
  Do you want to automatically download manufacturers' apps for your devices?
  set to No

So people have mostly never gotten accustomed to monitor drivers having any consideration at all, while drivers for graphics themselves and other new hardware has often had some associated downloads that people have become familiar dealing with.

Looks like LG finally took this long-standing opportunity to do some deeper enshittification than previously imagined. Simply taking advantage of a domino effect that has been lurking for decades.

A couple other related gpedit options if you don't even want the drivers themselves to change after you have gotten them correctly installed:

  gpedit.msc
  Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Internet Communication Management > Internet Communication settings
  Turn off Windows Update device driver searching
  Set to enabled
  OK
  
  gpedit.msc
  Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage updates offered from Windows Update > 
  Do not include drivers with Windows Update
  Set to enabled
  OK

For audio interfaces, HDAudio lets you do most of this. What the extra software gives you instead is often some crappy DSP that increases latency and messes with sound quality.

For years, Dell's / Realtek's software had an unpaged memory leak somewhere. If you were using a screen reader (I guess they must interact with audio devices in some very specific way that Realtek hasn't accounted for), your system would eventually run out of RAM and BSOD. They didn't fix this until Microsoft and a few screen reader vendors intervened. "Don't buy Dell" was a standard recommendation in the blind community for years, which didn't help if you had a work PC with no local admin.

> It is nice to be able to click

You said click. This happens without clicking anything.

If there is a system where someone smashes through your wall to deliver you some food, and we ask "why do we even have this guy-smashes-through-wall system?", "So we can have dinner" does not answer that question.

Oh definitely, it's more a question of why Microsoft allows any 'driver utility' to have internet access or do anything outside of just configuring the hardware.

You only need (5) (see the AWCCWINUI3APP thing there?). There is also a group policy equivalent to this:

  Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Device Installation\Device Installation Restrictions
  Prevent installation of devices that match any of these device IDs
  Set to Enabled
  Enable Also apply to matching devices that are already installed
  

  MONITOR\DELA246
  SWC\VID001&PID0001&AWCCWINUI3APP

Even that isn't sufficient - I've been using this for years and every so often AWCC still manages to get through. The only 100% protection from it is to use Image File Execution Options to match on the installer name to prevent it from ever running.