The Wifi where I live is slightly janky. When I boot the Minecraft launcher, it's common for it to boot "Not Connected" until I hit the little refresh button, upon which it connects. HOWEVER, the launcher does not behave normally after that. If I am connected to ethernet, which allows the launcher to access the internet much more easily, causing it to always boot connected, the launcher will always update if necessary and things will work properly.

If the launcher boots into "Not Connected," regardless of whether or not I refresh it and it connects, two weird things happen:

1. The "Latest Release" option becomes WRONG. It erroneously lists whichever version of Minecraft was installed most recently. What it SHOULD do is list whichever OFFICIAL version of Minecraft was installed most recently. In my case, it erroneously lists "1.16.2-Optifine_HD_U_G3" as the latest release.
2. The launcher does not update, even if an update is available.