Are there any PCs that don't collect metadata, or ways to make them private?

Hi- I bought a solidly built HP laptop in the early 2010s that worked well for years, but the HP I started using early this year is already falling apart at its hinge and has a worrying "Data Collected by HP" popup about metadata the computer collects (you can read the popup text below)

I emailed HP support and asked if they could stop collecting this, and their reply seemed to say that they would... but a couple months ago, the same popup returned, and after corresponding with an HP customer service manager for a month, he said he "couldn't reach" anyone in their privacy office (which is b.s.). I avoid emailing or texting info about my doctor visits so potential employers can't buy a file with my health data, even if it's just based on metadata from the titles of files or keywords, so I don't want this taken from my hard drive

So here are my questions:

     1) are there any PCs that don't collect metadata and keep my info private? (randomly looked up ASUS's data privacy policy, and it seems just as bad)

     2) if there aren't, what are the steps to buying a PC and erasing/reinstalling programs (retrofitting it) to keep my data private?

     3) what data, if any, do Macs collect, and what does Apple do with that data? (I'd like to avoid Macs, since they are 3x as expensive)

Thanks in advance for your advice & help, and here's the text from the HP popup:

Data Collected By HP
Anonymous statistical information is collected by HP to enhance app functionality and performance.
To improve HP products, enhance app functionality and performance, better understand customers and develop strategic business initiatives, HP uses tools, including Google Analytics, to collect, combine and analyse data that contains no personally identifiable information. Examples of the types of data collected by HP include:
• Whether you interacted with the check boxes.
• Information about your computer system, such as model number, version, country, language.
• Date and time user launches the application.
• HP device type and version number, but not the serial number.
• Screens visited and the length of time spent on each screen.
Data Collected By HP
• Date and time user launches the application.
• HP device type and version number, but not the serial number.
• Screens visited and the length of time spent on each screen.
• Whether you clicked on any buttons within the application.
You can find Google Analytics Privacy Policy here.
HP anonymises data wherever possible and will not use this data to track, profile or market to you without your consent. HP may analyse this data in combination with other data provided by HP customers during the course of their relationship with HP or obtained from publicly or commercially available sources. To read HP's Privacy Statement, please visit www.hp.com/go/ privacy.

Do a clean install of Windows without any of the HP bloatware. Problem solved.

Puppy Linux booting from a flash drive, with a write switch in the locked position, works well for me.

What Porthos said is true. HP is notorious for dumping its own bloatware on computers. Do a web search, there is info on it.

Edited by hamluis, 01 December 2023 - 01:23 PM.
Fixed typo - Hamluis.