Recently my laptop (Dell Inspiron 14Z 5423) started running slow, mainly when I was using Outlook.

Initially I thought the problem was with Outlook. 

Today I discovered that Dell Support Assistant and Supportassist Update Plugin were hogging the memory. Looking in Control Panel they were installed or updated on 6/12/2024, about the time my problem started.

I removed them using Control Panel, normal service resumed. 👍

I don't know how many people would be affected by this. My laptop is getting on and newer devices may not be affected.