What should I try before considering a clean Windows install?

From my experience, I wouldn't trust restore points too much. They might be causing more trouble than they’re worth. If I run into serious OS issues, I just keep it simple and do a clean reinstall. But I get it, if you're only working with a single drive, you might be stuck for a bit. Just think carefully before formatting.

Consider getting a new drive and trying a fresh install there while keeping your old drive as is. This way, if the problems persist, you know it's likely a hardware issue rather than just a corrupted OS. Have you run any component tests like memtest86 or prime95? It might help identify any underlying hardware problems.

I totally understand your frustration. I was in a similar boat, trying everything from malware scans to driver updates, but sometimes a clean install is just unavoidable. That said, it’s tough losing all those little tweaks and mods you've worked on for years—trust me, it feels like starting from scratch is the only answer sometimes.

Have you checked each of your applications for a way to save your configuration settings? If you can back those up to a USB stick, it could save you a ton of time during a full reinstall. Once you have the OS set up again, you can just load your old settings in seconds.

You might want to run memtest86 to check for any RAM issues. Sometimes, bad memory can lead to all sorts of weird behavior in Windows.