Thanks again @puzzlezaddict. I usually close everything down before I start my game besides maybe Discord and Spotify. I've attached the screenshots.
@ErzaKScarlet Your computer is using 8 GB memory after a restart, which is far too much. (Mine uses about 2.1 GB with nothing else open.) Some of this may not be fixable without getting a little more granular, but at the very least, you can easily disable Grammarly and Discord's update service, listed as "Update," on startup. Discord should still prompt you to update when necessary, and you can open Grammarly when you need it.
I would also consider disabling OneNote on startup, but that has less of an impact than the others, so don't bother if it's more convenient to you to have it open. With 16 GB memory, you do have some leeway here. I can show you how to disable some of these Dell services too, which aren't listed in the Startup tab but are definitely still running.
The error itself may be due to an overzealous Norton antivirus. So please disable it, temporarily, clear the EA App cache:
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/
and repair the game: open your game library, click Sims 4, and select Repair. Then try to play, with Norton still disabled. As long as you don't do anything else at the same time, your computer should be safe. If this helps, set exceptions in Norton for TS4_x64.exe and EADesktop.exe.
I also want to mention that Norton is not a great antivirus overall: it's bloated and a resource hog and not particularly accurate in either direction, flagging non-threats and missing some real ones. So if you're only running it because it came with your laptop, I'd suggest removing it entirely and using a different option. Windows Defender is good enough if you're not doing anything particularly risky, and if you need something more robust, there are plenty of other options out there.
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