Aurora R8, multiple issues

So it's been a fun few days.  I've experienced a few issues in order of annoyance:

1)  The most critical thing is I've seen performance slow down - impacting startup and games.  I noticed the hard drive cranking a lot and looked at task manager.  OCControl.Service.exe seems to be constantly running and my disk usage and resources go up and down with that.  My understanding is it has something to do with managing the overclocking but it seems to have suddenly gone rogue.

2) Alienware command center - the Fusion page loads nothing and on the main page the Thermal and Overclock sections just spin and don't load.  I tried the detailed uninstall/reinstall directions on Dell's site and still have the same behavior.  Not sure if it's related to #1.

3) Support Assist - it wouldn't load properly so I uninstalled and reinstalled (I had to do this once before and it worked fine.  This time - it installed - but I can't find it anywhere on the PC even after it said it was successfully installed.  I even see it in the uninstall area.  I don't know what's up with Alienware apps but they've been quite flaky.

#1 is BY FAR the priority as it's impacting performance.  Has anyone run into any of these?  This is an Aurora R8 by the way.