installing Linux to a second drive should prevent windows from messing up the partition regardless of encryption. windows only messes with partitions if you do 2 OS' on 1 drive

i got a basic setup working with carla + lsp crossover stereo x8 -> patchbay

many people will recommend you check out protondb, truthfully almost all your games will work fine. but for games with anticheat, check out areweanticheatyet.com which lists every game that has anticheat and whether it works or not, updates on compatibility, if it needs workarounds etc.

I use it every day

if you're still in the mood to browser shop, I recommend trying out Zen browser. it's Firefox based

I really like Zen browser. if you want chromium based, vivaldi is good (albeit proprietary)

there's only so many times i can provide starter guides and recommendations on how to switch platforms or install linux or whatever that i know my friends will never fucking use before i consider you an utterly lost cause and will just go "neat enjoy your spyware or whatever"

additionally consider using either heroic launcher or lutris (or both) for non steam launcher games (epic games, Ubisoft, etc). they make things really easy. and then of course every open source emulator ever supports Linux so no issue there

yeah so like 99% of games will probably work fine! you will want to know about 1. protondb: www.protondb.com
which lists all steam games and user reports on compatibility and workarounds, and 2. areweanticheatyet:
areweanticheatyet.com
which lists every game with anticheat/it's support status

it would be rude not to

ivy that was like 6 years ago

I had a similar concern on an alt I own. security seems to be really really bad. best advice I can give is to enable 2fa