I have noticed a slow down in Edge but so far that is all I noticed.

Your system slowdown could be caused by a lack of system ram or an ever-bloating windows registry file.  I know that you recently updated your ram.  And I was glad to hear that giving the fact that I know that you don't usually reboot your system.  But even 16gb is minimum recommended now.

It is time to worry not only for the elderly but also the young..

I'm posting this because I've run into this problem several times now.  And on multiple machines.  Windows update has been making a bad habit of downloading drivers that the user had not authorized.  In my case, AMD graphics drivers are being downloaded and installed silently by windows update manager.  This then causes the Adrenalin software package to bug out and crash when it tries to automatically update itself.  The effect, random and aggressive hitching and / or sudden black screens while the drivers try to recover from a crash.  You may even see a warning message popup stating that your hardware has changed and your system requires a restart.  So, if anyone else notices their system showing those symptoms after a windows update had recently installed, try manually updating your graphics software and drivers from your graphics card vender's web site.

I had a feeling that updates were now a backdoor preparation for Win 11.

I'm posting this because I've run into this problem several times now.  And on multiple machines.  Windows update has been making a bad habit of downloading drivers that the user had not authorized.  In my case, AMD graphics drivers are being downloaded and installed silently by windows update manager.  This then causes the Adrenalin software package to bug out and crash when it tries to automatically update itself.  The effect, random and aggressive hitching and / or sudden black screens while the drivers try to recover from a crash.  You may even see a warning message popup stating that your hardware has changed and your system requires a restart.  So, if anyone else notices their system showing those symptoms after a windows update had recently installed, try manually updating your graphics software and drivers from your graphics card vender's web site.

Thanks Jeff. That worked! 

I'm glad to hear that.  Just be warned.  Once you complete this process, MS has enabled a bunch of AI and cloud share garbage on your system.  Even in Edge.  Be sure to poke around your settings and turn all that junk off that you don't want or need.