And then, unless you jumped through hoops to disable it, your PC sends the key to Microsoft so they can just keep it linked to your account.

You’d probably also have to jump through the hoops to disable windows recall too.

Are they really sleepers any more?

I’ve got a few domains. I use Porkbun as registrar. They’re awesome, and the domains were pretty cheap. Under $10 a year each.

Fully agree that the DE doesn’t matter much. I’ve used KDE and XFCE the most over the years, and cinnamon, gnome, and even enlightenment a bit over the years. I was never a big fan of gnome, however I recently got a 2in1 laptop, and after a few days of tinkering… I think gnome is a bit better for that kind of interaction than than the others.

There are things to like and dislike with all of them I’d say.