Noob set up help

Hi all,
Lots of info on here, thanks!

I am trying to mine for the first time on windows 7 with a RX470 4gb

I have downloaded Ethereum Wallet and it doesnt seem to sync well when I open it up, it will sync a few 1000 blocks then stop - is there another way to do this?
Is there anything else I can be doing while this is syncing?

thanks all