I have gotten so used to not dealing with windows that on the rare occasion when I do go back I find that I have to check my anger and aggression while doing so.

There are exactly 2 things keeping me from switching to Linux full time.

Microsoft Office (I am aware of open/LibreOffice and the web version, but all are still lacking some feature or another)

Parsec hosting (I started doing weekly remote movie nights over the pandemic and parsec is basically the perfect drop-in solution for that)

I think windows 11 wouldn't be nearly as bad if it didn't force an online account on you. Yes, I know there are sometimes ways around it, but they are not for the average user to pull off. Especially the OEM laptops that ship win11 s-mode, where if it's not the right patch, you gotta do bios edits, registry edits.

Even just installing windows is pretty bad. They include jack shit for default wifi drivers and won't let you complete the installation without an internet connection (and a stupid Microsoft account to complete their data mining 1984 tracking system) unless you use secret command line bullshit.

This is basically why I went to linux around the time of Vista. The amount of hurdles windows puts in your way is silly.

However, it's odd for the OS to work and Steam then not to work. I wonder if the windows store protections have been disabled?

I am probably the only person on the planet who never had an issue with either W10 or W11 and their installation. The only Windows that truly sucked in my life were W95, WME and 8. I occasionally dual boot OpenSUSE with xfce for some dev stuff, but Windows has always been my daily driver and I'm so used to it I have bloody tears in my eyes when I look at your KDEs and Gnomes, which are in my opinion absolutely horrible environments. These days I more often than not use WSL2 from under Windows even, might as well just use Linux cli tools if their GUI stuff sucks so bad.

It's definitely more frustrating. I've had a similar experience trying to help people with their Windows PCs. Thankfully I've managed to convince a few to switch to Linux Mint.

curious but how could anti cheat work on linux

Builds New PC -> Can't even start Steam

Somehow I don't think the problem is Windows.

Using windows 11 is your first mistake, its ab uneven number windows, everyone knows the uneven number ones are bad. Or was it the even number ones? I dunno, windows 10 is better than 11 either way.

Hehe, installed both nobara and windows on my brothers pc. Nobara installed without issues, immediately usable with wifi. Windows didn't recognize drives at first, had to reflash the iso, i assume that was an iso issue not necessarily windows but you never know. Then, 0 internet, no wifi drivers :) Hotspot with phone and cable in order to make the pc have basic functionality, the true windows experience.

Easy of use and general look and feel have always been less than ideal on windows. The real advantage of windows over Linux is hardware support. And don't say it all just works, because it does not.

Being unable to delete OneDrive is reason enough to drop Windows imo.