Why not back up your win 7 installation and try a different Linux variant? Or even just fuck around with Linux in dual boot/vm before transitioning? I’d have to imagine that’d be preferable to either not using the internet or risking every device on the same network it’s connected to. I swear I read an article where fresh win10 installs were getting infected within minutes of connecting to the net. Let alone 7.
Worth pointing out our feds recently dismantled a criminal syndicate centred around an encrypted comms app. Stuff like that is on their radar and has been for a minute for imo, pretty obvious reasons.