But a situation has come up that forces me to use Windows again, so does anyone have suggestions for tools that make it more acceptable?
There are some things I imagine I could search for like something to stop forced updates and built-in ads (looking at you Candy Crush), but I would love to hear about tools I wouldn't even know to look for!
(PS, Before I make anyone angry, I'm sure there are plenty of people who prefer Windows to Linux and find it quite bearable! I mean no disrespect, use what you will.)
edit: formatting (which didn't work how I expected)
If it's an option, you'll want to use the enterprise or even server editions. The home/pro editions are squarely aimed at non-technical consumers and, as so many have complained about, do things aimed at preventing them from shooting themselves in the foot, e.g. forced updates. (Speaking of which, I never have a problem with them because I manually check for updates once a week when it's convenient, the same as I am required do for my Linux boxes, so I never wind up in a situation where a forced update interrupts my work. Again, you need to think differently about Windows.)
You have access to both WSL2, if you need to do Linuxy things, and PowerShell, which has inelegant syntax (IMO) but is quite powerful and will give you similar CLI-based control over the workings of Windows if you invest the time to learn it.
Beyond that, you haven't said what you're using Windows for (coding, office apps, games) and in what context (home/work/school) so it's hard to give advice beyond that.
Personally, I like Windows to run Firefox and maybe some games or spreadsheets, and putty to connect to a unixy computer. VcXsvr seems like a decent X server these days for the ocassional things that need a GUI from Unix. All caveats about remote X still apply, of course. Some people like WSL, too.