Andy Burns wrote:

https://pdfsam.org/

You only need the free/basic version ...

To add to the tribal knowledge for adding and removing pages and
re-ordering pages in a PDF on Windows using freeware ...

I checked my records to find this in my ad-hoc log files for PDFSam.

Disconnect the network when installing because it phones home.
https://pdfsam.org/
https://pdfsam.org/pdfsam-basic/
https://github.com/torakiki/pdfsam/r...sam-v3.3.5.msi

Merge, split, extract pages, rotate and mix your PDF files.
Runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and any other operating system where a
Java Runtime Environment (with JavaFX) version 8 or above is available.
Free and open source since 2006.

It checks for the Java Runtime Environment (it said mine was found),
and then goes by default to C:\Program Files (x86)\PDFsam Basic\

I changed the installation location to C:\app\editor\pspdf\pdfsam
Note that it phones home via the default browser at the end of
installation.

But when I ran pdfsam, it complained it couldn't find the java runtime
environment 1.8.0, which, I didn't feel like debugging, so I deleted
the program.

I'd have to look to see if there is a freeware editor that can combine
PDF files, but on Linux, there's PDFToolkit, which should work on Windows,
does it not?

OK. I see it. Here's my log file for pdftoolkit version 2.02 on Windows.

https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-server/#download
This doesn't require Java or .NET and it doesn't phone home.

When you install it, it gives you this information:
"Please note that PDFtk Server is a command-line program.
You use it by typing commands into the command prompt
or by calling it from a script.
If you would prefer a friendlier, graphical tool for
manipulating PDFs, please try our PDFtk Free at
http://www.pdftk.com

It wants to go into C:\Program Files (x86)\PDFtk Server
I put it in C:\app\editor\pspdf\pdftk_cmd

It then asks you to check this box (which is probably a good thing
for most people, but I use the App Paths registry key instead so that
I keep a clean $PATH):
[x]Add application directory to your environmental path

At the end of the installation it advises:

"You can test PDFtk Server using the Windows command prompt.
pdftk --version

You can find examples of how to use PDFtk Server at:
http://pdflabs.com/docs/pdftk-cli-examples/
You can find complete documentation at:
http://pdflabs.com/docs/pdftk-man-page/

If you would prefer a friendlier, graphical tool for manipulating
PDFs, please try our PDFtk Free at http://www.pdftk.com"

Examples:
Strip out page 13 of a PDF:
pdftk in.pdf cat 1-12 14-end output out.pdf

Just keep page 3 of a PDF:
pdftk in.pdf cat 3 output out.pdf
pdftk in.pdf cat 2 output out.pdf

Going to http://www.pdftk.com it says the graphical utility comes with
the server above, so you might want to install this instead of that!
(Hindsight is so wonderful isn't it!)
- pdftk_server-2.02-win-setup 2,984 KB (cmd-line only)
- pdftk_free-2.02-win-setup.exe 3,601 KB (both GUI & cmd-line)

https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/

This wants to install into C:\Program Files (x86)\PDFtk
Where I put it in C:\app\editor\pspdf\pdfgk_gui
It asks to add the application path to the $PATH environment variable.
And it doesn't phone home when you're done.

I didn't test it further, but I would ask the OP to test it, if it fits his
needs, and to report back for the rest of us to benefit from his efforts.