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What is making noise on this PC? It could be a hard drive, which could mean it’s failure and data loss is imminent. I would check drive health percentage with crystaldiskinfo: crystalmark.info/en/download/#CrystalDiskInfo
And even if the health on that drive is ok, 10 years is very old for hard drives, and it could fail at any time. One of the drives in my computer is about that old, and I only trust it with steam games that have cloud saves in case it craps out. You (and your parents) should not trust it to store important stuff long term. Back up important documents ASAP!
If you determine the hard drive isn’t making the noise, another cause could be old cooling fans clogged with dust. Cleaning them should help (NO VACUUMS! use antistatic brushes and canned air/antistatic electric air blowers. Also, don’t let the fans spin when blowing air on them. They can break if you do this). Sometimes fan bearings wear out and they make noise even after cleaning. Replacement of the fan itself is required in that case. You might need to order fans specific to that desktop if the fan header is proprietary (unfortunately common on prebuilt desktops).
Let’s address the slowness, which on a computer this old likely has multiple causes.
Honestly, the main cause of slowness is probably not Windows as much as it is a mechanical hard drive being used as a boot drive (my guess given the computer’s age). This was super common a decade ago due to cost reasons, but slow storage is a huge performance bottleneck for modern operating systems, even Linux. I’ve installed Linux on systems with mechanical hard drives, and they were still super slow before swapping the hard drive out for an SSD. Once I did that, it felt like a completely different computer!
Unfortunately, due to AI crap, SSDs are super pricy now. I think your best bet is getting the cheapest low capacity SSD (currently this one on pcpartpicker: pcpartpicker.com/…/patriot-burst-elite-120-gb-25-… ) installing the OS onto that, and using a hard drive (ideally a newer, more reliable one) for bulk storage.
Another hardware issue that could make that computer slow is thermal throttling (getting too hot). You can check whether the CPU is getting too hot with Core Temp: www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/ The CPU ideally should be ~75°C while CPU load is at 100%.
There are two things that cause thermal throttling: dust, and dry thermal paste. Cleaning dust off of fans and the CPU cooler fins helps with the dust.
If cleaning doesn’t alleviate the thermal throttling, you might need to replace thermal paste. In between the CPU cooler and the CPU, PC makers apply thermal paste to make heat transfer more effectively from the CPU to the cooler. Over time, it dries out and stops working as well as it should. I like to clean it off and replace it with Arctic MX 6: www.arctic.de/us/MX-6/ACTCP00079A
To replace thermal paste, you need to remove the cooler and clean it and the CPU with rubbing alcohol and q tips to remove the old paste. Then, apply a pea sized glob (or an x) of new thermal paste on the CPU and squish the cooler on top. Tighten the screws on the cooler in a cross pattern for even pressure when fastening, unless it’s an Intel stock cooler with the plastic clips, where you fasten a diagonal first and then the other diagonal.
Let’s say you fix up the PC (new SSD, dusted out, thermal paste replacement, fan replacement, whatever it ends up needing). There is still the question of whether Linux will be a good fit for what your parents need out of this computer.
Before you go and install Linux, make sure the software available over there is appropriate for your parents’ needs. You can do this by installing cross platform software that works on both Windows and Linux, and letting your parents try it while still on Windows.
In my experience with Libreoffice, simple documents feel easier to make than Microsoft’s suite. Unfortunately, if he uses documents other people make, the compatibility with Microsoft formats is a bit iffy for anything but the simplest documents. This makes collaboration with other people using the Microsoft suite very frustrating. If he’s making simple documents in word and excel, and he doesn’t need to collaborate with others or use it for work, Libreoffice might work well for him. Otherwise, it just isn’t ready yet, and you may need to spin up a VM, wine/bottles (wip), or dual boot when switching to Linux.
