#O&O win shut up disables all that data harvesting. But you need to stop cortana and edge manually.

[firespirited]

Techno babble: My computer problem was down to my version of windows upgraded 7 to 10 (wait, no, this is my newer refurbed computer which came with win10 prebundled so it'll affect older installs of win10!) being legacy BIOS and the install/repair tools for a damaged boot manager all being UEFI (new fancier BIOS format) only.

Basically their startup repair tool is not backwards compatible unless you change the format of your disks from master boot records to the new format using a tool called mbr2gpt which is more risky and time consuming than a reinstall which gives you new boot files.

I really miss being able to copy boot.ini from a usb and fix the problem. Ironically if I'd run my old copy of windows 7 recovery (which I still have on a flash drive) maybe it could have repaired the lost boot files.

In plain english, if your computer is over, maybe 4 years(?), old and boot files get damaged from electric flickering (also a problem with older PSUs and your local electric grid), their repair tool might not work without a reinstall and losing all your settings (and having to reinstall all your programs). If your computer is older than win10, a win 11 upgrade may require losing your settings if not your files. Backup including the hidden /roaming folder in appdata before you accept windows 11 if you feel you must upgrade.

TLDR : it's not enough for me to fix things I need to know why and how. Also Microsoft is a monopoly and a scourge.