legoland said:
but most things including word are blocked
What can you do with the PC without it freezing up? You can use the web browser and access the internet (like this forum) presumably?
The recommended books will help you learn about a PC, but I doubt if they will help you fix the freezing problem. A lot of people format/reinstall their machine when it begins to crash/freeze and they can't explain why.
Format - deleting everything from the harddrive. Imagine rubbing out all the names and telephone numbers from your address book - nice empty book, but pretty useless with no names and numbers in.
Install/Reinstall - installing some software to the harddrive. In this case referring to installing the first piece of software, known as the operating system. Think of the PC hardware as a plot of land. Think of your furntiure as the software (word, excel, internet explorer). You can't install your furniture until you have the house - the house can be likened to the operating system. The most popular operating system is known as Microsoft Windows.
If your auction bargain PC came with no original disks or reinstall disks you will need to buy a copy of Microsoft Windows (assuming you want to reinstall) and it isn't exactly cheap.
There are some operating systems which are completely free, but they are not so mainstream and won't necessarily offer you the PC knowledge you are seeking.
In short, a broken install of windows can be a biatch to fix. A complete reinstall of windows is not necessarily a small or simple task.