Are you familiar with linux at all? Even if you're not, I'd suggest throwing something like linux mint with the cinnamon desktop (the interface is pretty close to windows) on your old laptop and keep it as a backup.
I found it to come in handy when windows "shits the bed" or if I have to do any partition work.
Oof, are you ever in the wrong place.
Chonk.
Does that make it crash into an ocean? /s
How messed up is it that the touchscreen generation is having the same problem.
It's weird to see so many people in the comments talking about how they switch to Linux and supposedly have so many issues.
Probably the type of people that have difficulty reading and following directions, or never learned how to work through problems.
That's what middle managers are supposed to do, unfortunately most are just nepotism hires.