Tried many over the years but mainly stuck to Mint Mate. Thought I'd give Umate a try since I liked the mate desktop. First hour or so, I thought what a horrible frustrating experience. With disappearing apps/windows when minimized, the quirky nature of the panel taskbars and getting things arranged to my liking. I began to understand why Mint was more popular, because it was easier to set up and no fiddling around with panels, docks, quirks. Booted back into windows 10 for some 'normality' again.
But I would return to umate every once in a while until something clicked. Now have a good feel for it and better understanding of the quirks and features that have been bugging me at the start. Today happy to say its a keeper! When everything all set up, its great to work with. Big thanks to the people who developed umate.