Any suggestions as to what is wrong with my Acer Aspire 5733?

Homersfield

It was manufactured in 2012 so it is quite old. It runs Wondows 10. Not used it for nearly a year because one day is was working fine and the next day, it struggled with any commands. It does boot up ok and then it takes ages to open anything. It might do it or it might not. The computer gets quite hot so i place it on a book so air can circulate undeerneath it. I cannot reset it because it gets stuck 'preparing to reset' at 1% then it gives up. Disc fragmenter just goes on and on and on and eventually i close the program. A mate gave me a usb stick with W10 to reinstall. I was asked by laptop if i wanted to make changes to my laptop and then it gave up (back to home screen) It says i'm missing critical updates but i wait and wait and wait for the updates but nothing happens. Shall i just accept that the computer is so old and beyond repair?

Jason_Bourne

Check if it's overheating. You can use hwmonitor or a similar software.

Depending on the temp readings you might have to overhaul the cooling system.