1. How come I can’t get my mining software to put out more than 8-10 kilohashes?
You will have to tell more about what you're doing and what you think you want to achieve.
As in the pinned post, you need an ASIC to mine Bitcoin. You cannot mine Bitcoin with PC, if that's what you're doing.
So the answer would be: "that's because you're some 10 years late for PC mining and in 2022 you need to buy ASIC".