I use Notepad++ as a Notepad replacement. I never understood why the network connectivity is enabled by default at all. The first thing I did was to disable it as the constant nagging interrupted my flow (VS Code would do the same thing BTW). I currently have a version from 2020 I'm very happy with.
If one day, maybe in 10 or 20 years time, I feel Notepad++ lacks something and I decide to upgrade, I will do it myself, I don't need a handy helper.