I've been using Windows since 1998 and I can confirm all the issues described. The last time I enjoyed hanging Explorer was yesterday, and it was exactly because Explorer was trying to open a network link that I didn't ask to open.
To be fair I have that constantly on Linux. Default applications like ark trying to query every connected drive on every use and just hanging there until they get a response even when all you want to do is open a zip file on a local ssd.
