I'm just gonna drop a few things here...
Patch functionality in (or out) of apps: https://revanced.app/download.
This includes getting rid of ads and (essentially) giving yourself premium. The default YouTube patch also skips sponsored ad reads.
Spoof the Google Play Store APIs and libraries with ReVanced (you'll be prompted to download this anyway): https://microg.org/
Convert bundled .apkm to .apk for use with ReVanced: https://github.com/AbdurazaaqMohammed/AntiSplit-M
(You'll probably need this if you want ad-free Tumblr with ReVanced)
Find .apk and .apkm to patch or escape the app store: https://www.apkmirror.com/
Pre-cracked Spotify .apk if you don't want to find and patch the vanilla .apk: https://bestforandroid.com/apk/spotify-premium-mod-apk/
NewPipe, a client for YouTube, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, ect, with no ads or data collection: https://newpipe.net/
[Not going to list any specific piracy sites because that's really, really dumb but you can find them yourself. Anna's, 12ft, Sci-h]
Find whatever you're looking for, including pirated content: https://yandex.com/
Return to the old Google search engine: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/google-searchs-udm14-trick-lets-you-kill-ai-search-for-good/
(just set your default search engine to "https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14")
Block ads on your entire network, regardless of device: https://pi-hole.net/
(I did this in like forty five minutes for $20 [$15 Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and a $5 32GB micro sd card. You can also use a cheaper 16GB].
You can fully customize it and find more ad sites to block with the very supportive community. You can also whitelist sites if you find your lists are too strict, or even just block content you find objectionable.
Does not block YouTube ads because of how YouTube serves ads, but it does block ads and trackers on things like smart TVs, Roku, mobile games, ect.)
Flash Linux onto your router for extra customization and privacy: https://openwrt.org/
(This can include ad blocking across your entire network with https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome)
Block ads on Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
Block specific sites on Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublacklist/
Block a whole lot of AI content: https://github.com/laylavish/uBlockOrigin-HUGE-AI-Blocklist
Skip sponsored ad reads on YouTube: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sponsorblock/
(Included in the ReVanced patch of YouTube)
Get rid of clickbait thumbnails on YouTube: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/dearrow/
(Can be included in the ReVanced patch of YouTube)
Send fake tracking data on Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-possum/
Block trackers on Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/decentraleyes/
Learns to block trackers on Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-badger17/
Spoof or customize User-Agent on Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/user-agent-string-switcher/
(useful if some sites refuse to serve content based on web browser)
There are already quite a few resources floating around on how to remove AI, trackers, and bloat from Windows, so I'm not going to bother with that here, though I would recommend using Geek Uninstaller (https://geekuninstaller.com/) to uninstall Microsoft Edge and permanently kill Cortana.
Open source office suite to replace Microsoft Office: https://www.libreoffice.org/
(you can run it from a thumb drive)
Of course you can always just bite the bullet and switch over to Linux. There's a million distros, they're pretty user friendly, and easy to set up. They're also significantly more light weight than Windows if you've got an old computer.
And yes, you can run Windows applications on Linux AND dual boot Linux if you want to run Linux alongside your original operating system.
Bonus: play those old flash games you used to love: https://flashpointarchive.org/
TL;DR:
Block ads on apps (including tumblr)
Block ads on browser
Block ads for everyone
Get rid of AI
Better Google search
Find pirated shit















