@voxel@linux Customization wise, I’ve tried a handful of desktop environments. KDE Plasma looks sleek and modern to me, but it also is a bit heavier on resources. I’ve gone back to using the Cinnamon desktop environment that ships with Linux Mint. I’ve found it to be reliable, fairly lightweight, and does what I need.
For privacy, I think choosing a privacy respecting browser and installing basic adblocking plugins meets most needs. I use Firefox with Adblock Pro.