It is often not as straight forward as one would assume. The actual nasty surprise that many do not know how to correct is that when you install Linux to dual boot with Windows, Grub takes over the boot process and often screws up the “Windows Update”. Sometimes this just causes Windows not to update but sometimes it can cause you to go into a boot loop where you end up doing multiple restarts before you can even get back into Windows.
If you change the settings in Grub so that Windows is the default operating system, most of the time this is corrected, but not always. Any dual boot Linux installation can cause problems that many cannot figure out how to fix.
I understand the issues you speak of about Grub and dual booting. But honestly, with the Mint installer I have never had this issue arise. All the dual boot installed machines have always worked great updates and all, both Linux and Windows.
But what I have ran into is several other CMOS settings which need to also be changed so that MS does not try to lock out the Linux from booting. Or even switch your boot order back to windows as the primary OS over the Linux. Had that happen a few times and had change more CMOS settings to cure it.
But as far as boot order goes they should all come from the factory with the order as USB-CDROM-then internal drive/network. There is no reason why it should not look for external devices or CDs before booting from the hard drive or network. The time to look for these first is instantaneous anyhow. It is a ploy to prevent competition.