Paul wrote:

Alan Holbrook wrote:

Several times a year, my computer response time plummets like a
wounded robin, and usually at the same time, I can't seem to
start some of my applications. Either nothing happens at all or
else I get a few seconds of the hourglass followed by nothing at
all happening. I finally noticed, after this happened several
times, if I click on the 'Start' icon and then on the power icon,
I see the little orange dot and the message 'Update and restart'
or 'Update and shut down', depending. When I click on one of
them (usually 'Restart'), the machine goes through its usual
couple of centuries of 'Do not turn off your computer' and
finally completes the update and the restart. And surprise,
surprise, when that's all done, my computer is running at its
normal fast speed and all my applications start normally. So
does this happen to any of you, and if it does, do you have any
idea of why the system behaves the way it does when updates are
pending? Or is this just another example of Microsoft being
Microsoft?

That could be the Chrome version of Microsoft Edge attempting to
install. Mine seemed to make several attempts before it "took",
and the old Metro MSEdge got purged and replaced by the ChromEdge.

Does anybody on a PC actually use a Microsoft browser nowadays?