Hi FXi2, thanks for the response. I have since shut off most items in my startup folder and turned off most of the live tiles as well as most notifications. I've also shut off Wi-Fi and BT when the machine is off. I retested last evening, while watching TV I played Solitaire. My results were better and I got 2.5 hours using the clipboard until the power came down to 10%. A little better. I did the same as you with the pre-installed Office Suite and installed the 64 bit version of Office 365 Home.
I ran the "sfc /scannow" program and it didn't seem to do anything. It just went away so I hoping it's working in the background. The screen flicker is a bother, even though only intermittent, and I'm hoping for a fix It seems to only happen when the clipboard is detached. I'll give it a few weeks to see if anything develops before I contact Microsoft.