Right, we spent another $120 on a new SSD.
Used the Samsung cloning software, and it was "successful"
Rebooted the machine with the old disc removed.
It tries to boot, stopping at various points in the process. How can something as fixed as a computer do different things under identical conditions?
Sometimes it gets as far as launching W10, but after a minute maximum, the mouse freezes and another reboot is needed.
Jumped in quick and asked it to update the mouse driver, but of course "the device is working properly", AND "the current driver is the best for this device"
Standard W responses, and equally incorrect.
When it freezes, the optical mouse red light goes out.
Left to sort itself out, it eventually tells us that our "device ran into a problem, we'll gather some information and restart"
It does this, but locks up at the "Admin" window.
Then it will restart and actually start W10 (sometimes), followed by the mouse freezing and back to square one.
90% of the time, Mrs A is only looking at pictures of wildlife, not thrashing the beast with the latest video game.
To give her some access, I tried reconnecting the old disc, which has now decided that
it can't open W10
So, instead of speeding up her machine, it is totally useless.