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The Water Cooler
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Old laptop upgrade
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<blockquote data-quote="NightShade" data-source="post: 3350263" data-attributes="member: 29706"><p>It all really depends. Anything that is dual core can still be used for websurfing and streaming though not likely with windows. I have an old Athlon 64 x2 5000 that was released around 2006-2007 that runs Windows 10 ok but is a lot snappier using Linux. So just because it's old doesn't mean it will not work for simple things. It will not be a powerhouse, nor will it run the latest applications with great speed but by all means it can still be used. With that said putting in at least 8GB of ram and preferably 16GB along with an SSD will make the experience much nicer no matter what OS you use. But you also need to decide if it's worth throwing money at, to be honest if it was running slow already and you spent 300 bucks on it 10 years ago you probably got your money out of it. Often I take things like that in and either throw linux on it and give it away or strip for parts to make other computers and do the same thing.</p><p></p><p>Officially Windows 7 is end of life. That means unless there is something major they are not going to issue security patches. <a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/469843/windows-7-dies-today-heres-what-you-need-to-know/" target="_blank">https://www.howtogeek.com/469843/windows-7-dies-today-heres-what-you-need-to-know/</a> They did issue one on like the 23rd of January after ending support on the 14th but that will happen less and less as time goes by unless you are prepared to pay them directly or a third party for the updates. </p><p></p><p>With that said you can install and use Windows 10 WITHOUT a license key and it's legal. The one thing you can not do is change the personalization options, so you are stuck with the default background among other things but it will still work and update. <a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10/" target="_blank">https://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10/</a></p><p></p><p>One of the things I often tell people is give linux a try. If you can download an ISO file and burn it to disc you can set it up pretty easily. I actually have USB thumb drives that I keep with a full install of Linux on it. Just buy something at least 16GB in size and remove or disconnect the HDD in the computer so you don't have the option to mess with anything else. Then boot from the Linux disc with the USB drive inserted and install to it. Then if you have an issue or want to just try it out you insert the USB drive and either enter the boot selection screen or go into the BIOS/UEFI setup and change the primary boot drive. It's not super fast booting but it actually works pretty well for most tasks. I use it to do burn-in's on HDD's using BadBlocks <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badblocks" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badblocks</a> or to backup files to my network, or even to change forgotten windows passwords <a href="https://opensource.com/article/18/3/how-reset-windows-password-linux" target="_blank">https://opensource.com/article/18/3/how-reset-windows-password-linux</a> Plus if your computer is having issues you always have a spare OS to test things and see if it is the hardware messing up or the OS/software. I have done that multiple times when people swore that the internet access was an issue and not their computer, I used to work with an in house ISP and would take my laptop down to do checks. They would claim it's because it was my computer and not theirs so I would boot theirs into linux and show it was working and something wrong with their software.</p><p></p><p>And buying a chromebook when you have a computer already is basically going to net you something that is running a stripped down version of linux with google apps on it, before I spent money I would install linux on the laptop before shelling out money especially if it's just for a little bit of time while all the virus BS is going on. The one thing it will probably do is save you on power costs because the CPU will use less power but beyond that not be much different.</p><p></p><p>And with all the BS going on right now I will help members out for free if they bring me the computer, the only thing I can't provide is parts. I have a couple sitting here that I will sell for super cheap as well, you just have to provide a monitor, keyboard and mouse.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="NightShade, post: 3350263, member: 29706"] It all really depends. Anything that is dual core can still be used for websurfing and streaming though not likely with windows. I have an old Athlon 64 x2 5000 that was released around 2006-2007 that runs Windows 10 ok but is a lot snappier using Linux. So just because it's old doesn't mean it will not work for simple things. It will not be a powerhouse, nor will it run the latest applications with great speed but by all means it can still be used. With that said putting in at least 8GB of ram and preferably 16GB along with an SSD will make the experience much nicer no matter what OS you use. But you also need to decide if it's worth throwing money at, to be honest if it was running slow already and you spent 300 bucks on it 10 years ago you probably got your money out of it. Often I take things like that in and either throw linux on it and give it away or strip for parts to make other computers and do the same thing. Officially Windows 7 is end of life. That means unless there is something major they are not going to issue security patches. [URL]https://www.howtogeek.com/469843/windows-7-dies-today-heres-what-you-need-to-know/[/URL] They did issue one on like the 23rd of January after ending support on the 14th but that will happen less and less as time goes by unless you are prepared to pay them directly or a third party for the updates. With that said you can install and use Windows 10 WITHOUT a license key and it's legal. The one thing you can not do is change the personalization options, so you are stuck with the default background among other things but it will still work and update. [URL]https://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10/[/URL] One of the things I often tell people is give linux a try. If you can download an ISO file and burn it to disc you can set it up pretty easily. I actually have USB thumb drives that I keep with a full install of Linux on it. Just buy something at least 16GB in size and remove or disconnect the HDD in the computer so you don't have the option to mess with anything else. Then boot from the Linux disc with the USB drive inserted and install to it. Then if you have an issue or want to just try it out you insert the USB drive and either enter the boot selection screen or go into the BIOS/UEFI setup and change the primary boot drive. It's not super fast booting but it actually works pretty well for most tasks. I use it to do burn-in's on HDD's using BadBlocks [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badblocks[/URL] or to backup files to my network, or even to change forgotten windows passwords [URL]https://opensource.com/article/18/3/how-reset-windows-password-linux[/URL] Plus if your computer is having issues you always have a spare OS to test things and see if it is the hardware messing up or the OS/software. I have done that multiple times when people swore that the internet access was an issue and not their computer, I used to work with an in house ISP and would take my laptop down to do checks. They would claim it's because it was my computer and not theirs so I would boot theirs into linux and show it was working and something wrong with their software. And buying a chromebook when you have a computer already is basically going to net you something that is running a stripped down version of linux with google apps on it, before I spent money I would install linux on the laptop before shelling out money especially if it's just for a little bit of time while all the virus BS is going on. The one thing it will probably do is save you on power costs because the CPU will use less power but beyond that not be much different. And with all the BS going on right now I will help members out for free if they bring me the computer, the only thing I can't provide is parts. I have a couple sitting here that I will sell for super cheap as well, you just have to provide a monitor, keyboard and mouse. [/QUOTE]
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