"Preparing security options" and whining sound

spunk said:

The Fan might be failing. Hence the whining because of the fan stopping or not spinning properly. It may be intermittent and not whine all the time. With each update, Windows Security may be activated, you can check this by Double clicking Windows Security icon (Defender) in the lower right corner by the clock and see if there are any yellow check boxes.

Thank you for these ideas. My biggest concern is that Windows is constantly "preparing security options."

spunk said:

Turn Fast Startup Off Fix Windows 10 stuck at Preparing Security Options (Solved)

I noticed this solution some months ago, tried it then and today and it didn't correct the problem. Today I have extreme typing lag in MS Word. The last time this happened I updated Windows and the problem was fixed. I suspect that Windows update "preparing security options" is causing both of the problems---the whine and the typing lag.

- - - Updated - - -

I feel like the whining is the hard drive. I allowed some updates to download today. When the download started, the whine increased. When the download was finished the whine went down. Trouble is, it whines most of the time, making me think it's not happy about my postponing updates. Thoughts?