Instead of using an old windows version, you could use a third party program to strip windows down to absolutely bare essentials and remove all bloat and telemetry
This is a very
BAD idea and is bad advice. When you go and use apps and scripts to 'tweak' Windows 10 and Windows 11, you're essentially breaking the OS by putting it into a state that Microsoft doesn't do any sort of testing for where unforeseen things can and do happen (which honestly all of Microsoft's testing these days is done in virtual machines with their "Insiders" working as free testers, even though most feedback Insiders give is ignored and buried in the Feedback Hub app). Just install Windows as-is, configure it via the various settings available in the Settings app and leave it alone. The more you mess with Windows 10 and Windows 11 tweaking it by disabling apps, disabling services, trying to disable telemetry (which you fully can't), the more likely something is going to break. Both OSes are
incredibly easy to break (and I can't stress this point enough), especially if you're downloading random "debloat" PowerShell scripts off some random Github page. Just don't do that, just because you can tweak services and use the registry editor, doesn't mean you
should, especially if you have no idea what you're doing. And if that's not acceptable, maybe think about getting a Mac or replacing Windows by installing a Linux distro.
I can't tell you how many times I've had to fix Windows 10 PCs where somebody ran some random debloat script or a third-party tweaking app and they break Windows in a way where the only way to fix it is to reformat it.