What things could you use a win98 or win2000 (older comp) computer for?

Question

i have a few friends that want me to fix them up. they claim to be slow and possibly need upgrades. Is it even worth it? thanks for your help.

Answer 1

Windows 98 and 2000 are no longer supported by Microsoft (no patches, bug fixes etc.), and they won't support modern browsers or other applications. Older applications are likely to be much less secure. It also depends what they want to use them for. The odd email and text file, OK. Anything else and you're pushing it, especially with today's multimedia-laden Internet. If the PC is older than 5 years I would say dump them for use as desktop workstations and get a new one. New PCs can be picked up relatively cheap nowadays.

What would I use an older PC for? I might set up a firewall, a NAT router, a proxy server, a print server, a file server, a database server - anything that doesn't require a GUI. But then I'd be using Linux to do this.

Answer 2

Best thing I have found to do with older PC's is donate em to a Senior Center/Nursing home type environment and help them with setup and then go for a tax (charitable contribution) write-off... But first ya have to spend some time cleaning up the hard drive of unnecessary stuff, make sure it has 4-5 GB free and a working modem and enough RAM to run an older version of IExplorer and handle some of the simpler, free email sites (like Juno or better yet, gmail from Google as it loads quick, isnt 'junked up' like so many web sites)
The smile (or even tears of joy) you get from one of the silver-hairs the first time they get an email from kids (or grandkids, etc) makes the time well spent!

Answer 3

I found 2 problems last year. Norton stopped subscription services for anything running on old platforms.

Sales must really suck because it was much cheaper to buy this Dell than build another like I did in 2001.

I vote for anchors.

Ecycle is best though

Answer 4

Use them for? Paperweights?