So I've done some updates, a windows security roll up KB4520005, malicious removal tool, until there were no more critical updates.
Then I wanted to do a dot net update since that's what started this whole thread. I got the following error:
Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x8007371b: 2019-10 Security and Quality Rollup for .NET Framework 3.5, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8 for Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 R2 for x64 (KB4524104).
I'll download the update from the catalog and do a ProcMon and post back next week. Enjoy your rest.