I was in the “windows is bloated to hell and back” camp since my last experience with it.

But I recently did a clean install of Windows 11 home, and it turned out to be just fine. Instagram and WhatsApp were the only two apps in the start menu, and I uninstalled them without any issue.

I’m also liking the overall UI. After some minor tweaking in settings, it’s really neat and minimalist. The screen real estate is used efficiently, unlike Linux DEs where ~30% is gone in odd paddings and margins.