absolutely grotesquely bad Apple Maps they integrate
You can use !maps query to workaround that. I typically end up using DDG as a frontend to other sites through its bangs syntax.
E.g.
!maps x location to y location
But yeah, if normal DDG results don’t work for you it’s probably not a huge gain.
Tuya wifi devices are common and you can use TuyaLocal or LocalTuya (confusing I know) integrations to control them without cloud connectivity. You will need an API key an cloud access to first set it up, however.
Is it best to have HA on Windows instead
No, certainly not.
Could you be having issues with the batteries in the motion sensors? You could also try setting up your zigbee network from scratch, although that is obviously annoying.
DDG results weren’t too bad, although repetitious and focused on the history of the gag, and not particular examples.