I've been using an old PC that's had several upgrades, and recently, my dad—who used to run a computer repair business—installed a new hard drive for better performance. He assured me he didn't change much besides that. However, I'm facing a series of weird issues that make me think something is off with my Windows OS. For starters, I'm having trouble accessing some of the files he copied over and the user experience feels different from what I remember. I'm unable to use dark mode, customize my taskbar like before, and various programs like Discord and PDFGear are malfunctioning. It's like I've got a different version of Windows 10 or something, but my dad insists everything is the same. I'm genuinely at a loss here and I'm wondering what might have gone wrong and how to fix it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
From what I'm gathering, your dad might have installed an outdated version of Windows 10. It sounds like you could greatly benefit from doing a clean install of Windows 11. Here's a guide on how to do it: [Link to guide]. Keep in mind that an SSD would give you a massive speed boost over a standard hard drive as well, if you decide to upgrade further.
By the way, when you mention memory and hard drive—just a quick note for future reference: a new hard drive gives you more storage space, not memory (RAM) which affects how your PC runs programs. Also, Windows 11 is a free upgrade from Windows 10 if your hardware is compatible!
It sounds like your dad may have ended up installing a fresh image of Windows that isn't identical to what you had before. When you switch hard drives, you can copy over files, but that doesn't always mean the operating system and all programs will work the same way. Your graphics card and its drivers might also not be compatible with the new setup since that hasn't changed. If you’re feeling adventurous, trying to check your version by hitting Win+R and typing 'winver' might clear things up.
Not to mention if it's Windows 11, you might not have all the settings you're used to. Just make sure you're clear on what version you have!
Good to know! I'll keep that in mind when shopping for upgrades.