for now,
as long as I open 'task manager', - my computer runs smoothly with appropriate usage,
- and can run smoothly/appropriately w/ a surprising amount of stuff (like PPs for every track, equibase charts, multiple ADWs, youtube, webchats) all at the same time, with no problem.
I don't know know why. I don't have the knowledge/competence of it, but as long as task manager is open, it's cool.
and, yes, I'm aware that this isn't proof of such malware.
Just a possibility.
as phil collins once said, repeatedly "I don't careee any mo(oh)
it's a mildly interesting thing... Dave's article has some good stuff.
I've googled some stuff, that ranged from trying to sell me advanced versions of malwarebytes related programs, to standard endless loops of generic windows 10 'help' tasks, to crazy sounding people 'shouting' that it was cryptojacking, ... and I did my due diligence / all the freakin' time i'm willing to spend on this crap before throwing in the dumpster
but for now, i'm OK, with opening the task manager every time.