I’m in the same boat, of needing to still use Windows.
Check out Windows XLite. Its a highly customized iso that gets rid of all the bullshit. No automatic updates (they’re provided as cumulative installers), no windows defender, no edge, no cortana, no store, no Xbox, etc. Those things are all stil available, too. Also, all the telemetry is disabled from registry and gpolicy, and since no auto updates, they won’t mess with those entries to “uh oh we turned on our spying again, and didn’t tell you.”
Its a massive breath of fresh air, feels like going back to XP and 7, when your fresh install has nothing at all. Not even dot.net and vcredist, which are also available.
I DEFINITELY shared that worry, but I found it on an invite only forum that has a track record of clean isos and modded OS’es, and any uploaded files are scanned by multiple anti-malware/viruses. Plus I could see the dude FBConan had a long very active history there. He + someone else used to make Phoenix Lite, but other dude wanted to get greedy, so he ditched him and went solo. Now he just takes donations from Patreon, and makes downloading easy from his own website.
Multiple displays are always a shit show. Once a year I try out a current distro, and within a week I’m back on Windows. This time was Bazzite, and the exact same problems as always, both Plasma and Gnome, just last week. After all this time windows still don’t remember their size and position, and right click context menus randomly break and show up on the opposite monitor. Go and look up the bugs, and I can see they’ve been a problem for like 5-15 years.
If you give up on Linux for the time being, I HIGHLY recommend looking up Windows Xlite. It is a highly modified Windows 10 or 11 iso. They even have the option to install without Windows Defender, its such a breath of fresh air, almost feels like being back on XP or 7.
Check out Windows Xlite, they have 10 and 11. Their install iso’s are stripped of all Microsoft’s bullshit.