Put my administrative files on a Linux VM, worth it?

Hello

Since my 15th birthday I scan every piece of paper such as pay slips, taxes, bills etc, which are backed up in a password protected rar archive uploaded to a cloud account and a 2nd HDD that goes in another location

Getting a little paranoid about the safety of such files as I'm forced to use windows 10 for niche apps and video games I'm wandering if I were safer using a debian VM in VMWare for my administrative tasks.

My questions are :

• How could I secure the integrity of that VM? (Already had VM getting corrupted to a point where they just couldn't be used anymore) I use VMWare

• I suppose a password locked archive is like pre School level for someone who has the right tool, is there a way to secure it a little more without using a dedicated encryption soft ? (Open a rar Locked file is simple on every platform, using encryption seems more complicated). Would change the extension of the rar file be enough to trick potential hackers looking for interesting stuff?

• Sometimes ransomwares encrypt only certain files extensions, are .wmx part of those files extensions in general?

• Would a virtualized Linux really help me avoid getting my files stolen ?

• How do you manage administrative and personal tasks? Do you have a separate machine/os for such use ?

I'm trying to have a good balance with security / facility, any help would be appreciated,

Thanks