I hope the internet is prepared for when VPNs will be targeted. A LOT of free access to the internet nowadays hinges on the use of VPNs and I have been dreading the day when corpos and politicians finally catch up to that fact for some years now. Remember when credit card companies removed themselves from Pornhub as a payment method after just one article from about exploiative material on the platform?
Just think about the consequences when you will only be able to subscribe to VPNs through bitcoin. I know, subscribing with your credit card isn't the smartest move in regards to privacy, but it works for a lot of stuff that isn't that dramatic (e. g. circumventing geoblocking).
I don't think we're that far away from the endgame for the free internet. Enshittification is just the first step. When that eventually doesn't work out, they will come for VPNs and stuff like the fediverse.
Linux Mint (I'd recomment Debian edition, LMDE) is basically what you want to try out. I've set up a PC with it for my stepfather that hasn't used Linux at all and he's happy with it. It's designed to be as newbie-friendly as possible. You won't have more issues with it than you'll already have using Windows.
Then if you feel unsatisfied with anything about it, you can go looking for other linux distributions (distros) because you have a general idea what's happening.