I've been having intermittent update-related issues with my laptop and Win 10. It seems every update crams a bunch of junk into the thing, which then waits endlessly for things that aren't running to connect, and for me to update the settings on programs I don't even know I have.
I'd start by going to the Task Manager and disabling any startup items you obviously don't want. Check the services too (being careful not to disable needful stuff) and see if there's junk there. I never opened Skype in my life, but had nine instances of Skype service running at once.
Some things, like Skype, can just be uninstalled. Others, including some Xbox junk, are baked in, and require more effort.
There's more info on the web for disabling other stuff that can't be uninstalled normally, but every bit helps. Microsoft keeps putting Edge back in and defaulting all sorts of stuff to that.
I needed at some point to set up a separate administrator account, and found that a bunch of junk was set up there, and Edge was waiting for me to do stuff. Windows would take minutes to finish loading correctly, and programs would report "not responding," because Edge was waiting for me to enter stuff. So if you have more than one account, make sure you look at them all.
Every time I think I have it licked, it works great for a few days and then starts acting up again, and I find some new stupidity from Chairman Bill hiding somewhere gobbling up resources.
I may seriously have to look into how Linux can run some of the Windows specific programs I have, and if it does, maybe it's time.
e.t.a. in my case I don't think it's a RAM issue so much. Ram might help, but some of it is just Windows waiting for inputs that never happen. Eventually it gives up, and starts working again.
