Machine grinding to halt post 23H2 successful update - Folders won't open, Microsoft store won't install apps, machine unresponsive

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I have a well equipped machine ((ASUS AMD 66, dual graphics, 40GB RAM, 1 TB (40% free) HD))

the first thing that happened was iTunes would not install from the Microsoft store. So I attempted an install using winget.
Winget just hangs.
Attempted to refresh winget using powershell.
PowerShell was not installed.
Reinstalled using terminal or windows features (I can't recall).

Looked for recently installed software (there wasn't any, but I still removed a few programs).

Ran SFC /scannow many times
DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Many iterations of SFC and DISM.

Folders sometimes OK.

Getting messages about missing applications. Windows Phone App and iCloud.
Event viewer notes and issue with BITS and windows search "The Windows Search service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 684 time(s)."

sfcfix reported a serious error and was unable to proceed.

Unable to compress folders also.

 

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Thanks also!

 

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in further troubleshooting, it seems that many folder permissions are not correct. I should also mention I have no sound.

 

[Bikes]

I am very patient and appreciate the help. Are there things I could be doing to prepare my machine? Running diagnostics and gathering logs? I uninstalled any unused software and generally tidied up.