I have 64 bit machines older than this running Win 10. The issue is that Microsoft is sloppy when it comes to releasing its updates.
UPDATE - I think the problem lies with the Security Essentials update authored on 11/29 that is part of the cumulative update package released on 12/13. I isolated it out of the cumulative update package that was having trouble installing on another machine, and everything worked smoothly. Just more Microsoft sloppiness.
One of the recent updates changed security settings on files and made them inaccessible. It involved files coming from the web. A great security feature unless you receive Excel files from an intranet reporting tool.