update:
clean reinstall of 20H2 / 19042.631 produces a working, trouble-free machine.
I have tried to stop all updates to this as it's working fine, so tuened off windows updates.
Laptop now has...

This was/is the frustration, the service that is killing the machine is not visible, unless it's the Antimalware, which is the only memory hungry process visible, "system" using 35% on a constant is...

this is why I was unsure of the use of the process explorer, other than the antimalware executable which is gobbling memory like a fat kid eats icecream, there is no reason for the system to be...

it's going on an HDD style, don't want to spring for a SSD yet. This is supposed to be a homework/SOHO machine, not a gaming rig.

Basic spec, nothing fancy and a clean formatted install, should be...

ok, so the process explorer finally installed

337393


anti-malware exe seems to be memory hungry, but not CPU-obsessed.

Perhaps more DDR3 will help, there's some on the way, but the...

Thanks for the reply, it shipped with 64bit os from factory, sadly that was Win8.
I didn't get my hands on it until after it suffered the HDD fail, so don't know the W10 os versions, but apparently...

Running a Compaq Laptop with W10 and I'm experiencing something new.
First the details of the hardware:
Winver: 10home. 20H2 19042.1052. Feature Pack 120.2212.2020.0
PC is an AMD E1-2100 APU with...