> What I really prefer is for my windows to be where I left them, and MacOS is pretty good about keeping them that way.

Well, it is once you go into Preferences > Mission Control and turn off "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use"

I can't imagine why that's enabled by default, and I always forget to turn it off when setting up a new machine and don't realize it until I get confused for the 50th time, thinking I'm losing my mind cause my desktops are in a different order from what I thought