A need for speed

I'm struggling with slow downloads, interrupted streaming and other issues. HP laptop, 1.3 Ghz AMD processor, 4Gb Ram. Windows 10 takes up half the RAM, Firefox another quarter, leaving .5 Gb working RAM. All of our devices experience frequent disconnects from HughesNet; They say it's the devices but had me change some wifi settings.

I also have a weird partition on the hard drive. F: 263 MB free of 895 MB. Double click on it and get "The folder is empty"

Anyone have ideas? I'd like to at least stream some PBS videos.

Thanks