Best program I’ve bought was NTLite, which allows you to customise a Windows ISO before installation, or edit a ‘live’ environment though this isn’t recommended. It takes a bit to get used to, though it’s incredibly powerful.
You can strip out pretty much all of that crud, including Edge, and prevent it from coming back using NTLite’s Host Update wizard, rather than Windows Update.
I have no financial interest in NTLite, I hope this helps someone make Windows decent again. It’s worth the money (about $50 if I recall correctly).
Same with Inkscape vs Affinity Designer.
I really wanted Inkscape to work for me, though I was constantly fighting the UI and some weird artifacting Inkscape produced exporting SVG files.
Affinity Designer was, and still is, especially since their licenses are perpetual/non-subscription, well worth the price and is a dream to use.