New Lenovo laptop w/Windows 10 Home - Major limitations (how to fix)?

Sammy,

1 Add or Remove Default Desktop Icons - TenforumsTutorials

2
Windows Defender SmartScreen for Apps and Files from Web - Turn On or Off in - TenForumsTutorials
Windows Defender SmartScreen for Microsoft Edge - Turn On or Off - TenForumsTutorials
Windows Defender SmartScreen for Microsoft Store Apps - Turn On or Off - TenForumsTutorials

3 There isn't for Windows 10 Home. There wasn't for Windows 7 Home Premium.

4 Your replacement antimalware utility will disable WD for you. See also Enable or Disable Real-time Protection for Microsoft Defender - TenForumsTutorials

There are links to tutorials at the top of every TenForums page.

Denis

there's no Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)

This comes with Win 10 Pro. Whilst there are threads out there to add it, 100% compatibility is not guaranteed.
Most tutorials here give the equivalent registry details and reg file where a group policy is involved and that is relevant to the topic.

There is this (free):
Policy Plus brings Group Policy to all Windows editions - gHacks Tech News
- which also includes a useful find feature

Why were you expecting to find the group policy editor? Did you have it previously?

no way to disable Windows Defender

Not entirely true - and note that Defender is also your firewall.

Installing a 3rd party AV partially disables Defender.

There are plenty of threads here you can read arguing that Defender is good enough.

- which does rather seem to be encouraging sammy888 to leave the sparkling new laptop .er. unDefended, so to speak.

Sammy888 said:

We bought a new Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 Home. It's extremely limited and unusual to say the least coming from Windows 7.

The best way to approach Windows 10 is to play with it. And yes, if you want more control over Windows 10, Pro is the way to go.

Many have their way of dealing with Windows 10, which ultimately may not be the way you want to approach things, or you may find the things we say remove may be the things you like the most.

That said, my opinion is there's nothing wrong with Windows Defender and many of us (me included) use it without issue or fear. It simply works.

Right now the only limiting thing about Windows 10 is your unfamiliarity with it.

Good luck.

Or maybe it has Windows 10 S?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/s-mode