The problem with Windows is all of the Crap attached to it. The stuff that Microshaft uses to make money on your clicks and other stuff.
Code is written for the wrong purposes.
Plus instead of deleting faulty code and replacing it, Windows just leaves the old crap in and stuffs it into thousands of useless files. Windows 3.10 was on six 1.44 MB floppy disks. Windows 10 is on something like six 4.7 GB DVDs.
Yes. Windows is and has always been larded down with all kinds of stuff going on in the background. I was amazed how fast an old laptop booted up and ran when I first got into Linux/Ubuntu. It was a very old laptop so I selected a “light” version of Zorin to install that had a reputation for not being to demanding on the hardware. Blazing fast compared to Windows.