The thing you are looking for is the Group Policy Editor. There are Group Policies that can disable the prompts to use Microsoft accounts and the ability to use OneDrive or Windows AI features, the hook Bing has in Windows Search (i.e. no more searching in the start menu and having it list web sites before the file or application you wanted) and all the "consumer experience" features in non-Enterprise Windows. There are a few GPO settings that get ignored unless you're on Windows Enterprise or Education. Most of them related to Microsoft Datamining.

It is also possible to transition a Microsoft account back to a local one without losing your Profile. This is done in Settings > Accounts > Your Info in Windows 11.

gpedit.msc is normally only available to non-Home Windows SKUs, but it is unlockable with a tiny bit of Powershell:

Get-ChildItem @(
        "C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientTools-Package*.mum",
        "C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientExtensions-Package*.mum"
) | ForEach-Object { dism.exe /online /norestart /add-package:"$_" }

Open an Administror-elevated Powershell or Terminal session, paste that in and even your $200 Acer vomit-grade notebook can work the way you want it again.

The reason we need GPOs for this stuff is that Microsoft's software updates will occasionally re-set registry changes. If the changes are made with GPOs, the settings get reapplied and overwrite changes no matter what state Windows is in. This is particularly annoying for stuff like OneDrive, CoPilot and Edge preferences. You either have to regularly re-run scripts to alter the registry to the state you like it and hope nothing makes a structural change to where those settings live, or you set a GPO.

Why? You're doing what works for you, others have other needs / likes. But when Apple releases a $2k phone it's a tragedy, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 is right there with it on pricing and nobody says a thing.

I mean it's a cut and paste of three lines of powershell.

I wouldn't call the ins and outs of operating gpedit.msc trivial, but enabling on Windows Home is a couple clicks and maybe six key strokes.

I really do agree.
I maintain system images as part of my job, but it always made sense for me to extend that to individual devices since I am asked to help with them anyway. For me, this has been just adding a tweak here or there that grew over time. GPOs for Windows Home didn't become standard in my image management until Microsoft started inflicting Onedrive on everyone. Now I view it mandatory.

For what it's worth, I have a similarly long list of things I do when I configure a Linux system or MacOS. I definitely have to do the most arguing with MacOS since I hate some of the OS default software and Apple has a long history of breaking things that should be scriptable.

You can exclude them from installing through an autounattend.xml (see Schneegans.de for help building one) and prevent them from display via a GPO. You really want to use a group policy object because otherwise a Windows Update might put them back; it'll override a plain old registry change or user preference any time it wants but GPO changes persist.

It is trivial to restore Local Group Policy editing on Windows Home SKUs with a little powershell.

Get-ChildItem @(
        "C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientTools-Package*.mum",
        "C:\Windows\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientExtensions-Package*.mum"
) | ForEach-Object { dism.exe /online /norestart /add-package:"$_" }

Some GPO settings are ignored outside the context of Windows Education or Enterprise SKUs, but most of those are related to user behavior data mining. I can verify that if you're just trying to supress OneDrive, Bing Search and Microsoft Account sign-ins, those are all maintained just fine even on Windows Home.

Then when the bots scan my face, they'll say, "He's a good one. Let him pass". Heh.

Did they have any fire suppression in their datacenters? Or did the contractor take the money and just install some pipes?

It's highly unlikely that anything you'd do in the course of normal desktop use would make much of a subjective difference from a SATA SSD to an NVMe drive. Most sustained IO operations don't take so long that you'll realize the difference. I can tell when I'm copying 30GB files from my camera card or doing full database dumps, but for just loading up a game or booting an OS? They're subjectively almost exactly the same experience.

That being said, there is such a thing as a cacheless drive. SSDs used to have a certain amount of DRAM or SLC NAND as a faster intermediary interface for storage. Low-cost drives might not have THAT, and that seriously reduces the utility of the SSD in the first place, especially on no-name drives. Those guys are sometimes no better than mechanical drives. Since your system is a refurb, it's possible they did just stick a POS drive in.

But in reality, as long as I'm carrying a phone, I'm being tracked already.

There is a clause in the statute: "in any manner in which it may be viewed by another person". I would argue that it's her diary and not meant to be viewed by anyone. I don't disagree that turning her in was the right thing to do but I doubt she'll be convicted.

...why don't we have specified frequencies for emergency broadcast. NOAA weather radio requires a UHF or VHF receiver, AM is no good for its broadcasts. It should be something like in an emergency, tune to AM1600 for information regardless of where you are in the country.

80% of the people will just read the title and think AI is this robotic voice that lives in a CGI world that looks like a sparkly circuit board and has sole control over the launch of nukes.

... no longer applies. You need to code efficiently instead of just getting it out the door and the OS companies need to hear this loud and clear.

I'll just ask it to show me the winning moves in Tic Tac Toe when it asks if I would like to play a game.

They're good PR for the military. Just don'tt do them with reckless behavior and flights shouldn't be joy rides for your cronies.