i basically never use the "maximized" version of windows, in general.
it's been this way basically since i started using the internet (and arguably even before that); multitasking is just too powerful to ignore, and most programs don't need the entire screen to accomplish what i need out of them.
instead, the top 7/8 of the screen is usually the web browser, the lower left is typically for chat (IRC before, discord now), with a few lines peeking out to keep an eye on the conversation; the lower right is for IMs (discord, typically). sometimes i'll swap other things out of those areas, too, but the idea is mostly "keep as much useful content on the screen as possible without having to constantly tab between programs".
this is even moreso now that most webpages are huge, bloated messes of whitespace; twitch and other video players mostly require the full window width now, but there's plenty of vertical space wasted, too
