I finally got around to installing Linux Mint on the old 2016 HP laptop that was my son's when he was 12 (he's now 20). It runs beautifully. My first time using Linux Mint and it is beautiful. This is my first step in abandoning Windows--so far, I can say it won't be missed.
I have DISABLED AUTO UPDATES (with the Windows builtin policy editor)
AND I have disabled a specific update (with MS's "wushowhide.diagcab" tool) because it borked my installation last time (this is a fresh install because of that)..
AND GUESS WHAT, I CAUGHT WINDOWS INSTALLING IT AUTOMATICALLY ANYWAY, seriously wtf??