Windows XP Just got a PC today, for free!

[catilley1092]

Today, while visiting my mother-in-law, after I did her routine maintenance for her (MBAM alone found 271 bad items, including 33 trojans), I got a surprise. She gave me a Dell Dimension 2400 (the one I used to keep up for her), & it's in great shape. It has XP Home, but I plan to install a dual boot of XP MCE & 7 Home Basic (for the time being).

Those 271 bad items were on there, despite how much many users brags on MSE, which is her AV of choice, keeps updated & runs regular scans. I've yet to see MBAM catch that many items at once, never, until today.

Looking at all of the room inside, there may be a chance to install a low profile video card, of at least 512MB VRAM. Many of these cards can be bought for less than $50, it's just in knowing what to do. I'll have to learn this myself. This PC is going to be one for me to learn to work on, I've never had that experience, except doing my RAM & HDD swaps. I was certainly pleased to get it.

All that I need to get it going is a monitor. Some of these monitors, even the cheaper ones, has high resolutions. Will this present a problem? I'm looking to get a 18 to 20 inch one, I can't afford those high dollar ones. I'm even considering one from Radio Shack, if they still have it in stock, that's a TV also, but haven't made up my mind yet. Hopefully, tomorrow I can find one.

Anyone see any potential (other than having something to learn to work on) of this PC? Not having a monitor, I don't know the specs, other than it has 768MB of RAM. It will hold 2GB, which I soon will get, if I already don't have it laying around.

One last thing, the local Hospice store sells these type of items. Is there any reason to be concerned about purchasing one from there? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it's been my experience that a monitor works or doesn't work, no in between. I realize that some may look older, as I will check any that I consider purchasing out. But really, is there that much wear & tear on a monitor?

Cat

 

[Dangaioh]

Gratz... btw, I recommend using this online power calculator (eXtreme Power Supply Calculator) to help determine if I have enough power running.

With a low profile card (which should go down as low as $30.00), doubt you would need any power supply changes at all. Doubt you should even have any issues with high rez monitors.

 

[catilley1092]

Yes, I saw one video card (1GB) on Newegg that was $9.99 after a $30.00 rebate. These cards aren't hard to find, just need to make sure that it works for me.

And I'm going to have to do some learning to do this, as doing major work on a computer is treading new waters for me. It's kind of dusty inside, so I'm going to remove the cover & clean it out good. This PC will give me some much needed experience that I need. It will be great to get a monitor, as I don't know fully what I have.

Those Dimension 2400 series shipped with some different configurations, hopefully tomorrow I'll know what I have.

Cat

 

[Dangaioh]

$10.00 after rebate is not quite bad at all. Mind you these sales are timed based so, the sooner you get the system, the easier to determine the proper card to purchase/install.

For giggles, I used a leaf blower to clean the inside of my sister's desktop when it was begrudgingly used in my aunt's house in Miami. It had an entire colony of dust bunnies... though I do believe using those air cans would work, I just did not have the time to go and drive to the nearest store and buy a $5.00 can of air. Suffice to say, the desktop still worked.

Regards to AV, or any other crapware... any crapware will be installed, even with the best of AV and antimalware being used, it's quite dependent on the PEBCAK (PErson Between Computer And Keyboard) having to circumvent the programs used to protect the system. Especially, if said PEBCAK, decides to install crapware contrary to the programs warnings/recommendations not to/blocks. Or if the PEBCAK knew better than to install said programs...i.e.: browser enhance programs, browser toolbars, coupons, games to said cool games, etc.

BTW, you may want to see if you can remove and store the current hard drive safely away in an antistatic bag, and use another hard drive to install Linux... or better yet, Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

 

[catilley1092]

I believe that if the RAM (768MB) were to be upgraded to it's 2GB Max, and a low profile 512MB or 1GB video card installed, Windows 8 CP would run just fine on it. The CPU is a single core 2.4 Intel Celeron, that along with 2GB RAM (& the VCard upgrade), should power Windows 8 CP 32 bit OK.

This would also go to show that there are quite a few PC's still with plenty of life left in them, that could easily run Windows 7 or 8 with a simple hardware upgrade. Those VCards that costs hundreds of bucks are fine for it's intended use (gaming), but Windows 8/7/Vista doesn't require cards costing that much.

Just to have one capable of displaying Aero is plenty enough for most.

Cat

 

[Dangaioh]

Windows V/7/8 does not need anything powerful to do internet and basic gaming... however, is the slot on the motherboard... AGP, PCI or PCI Express?

It's easy to buy a new graphics card, it's even harder to insert the card, if you got the slot type incorrect.

 

[catilley1092]

I'm not sure about the slot yet, as I just got a monitor today, and am in the process of re-installing the OS (XP Home) that's on it. That re-install made it run much faster.

I'll have to check the specs once I have the OS right, hopefully by tomorrow. I did read in the documentation that there were 2 extra slots, but not sure what they're for. Wait, I just checked the manual, there's 3 PCI card slots.


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Cat

 

[catilley1092]

I finally got a monitor for this computer, then guess what happened? My mother-in-law found the one that she thought she got rid of, after I bought one. I took that one back, and used part of that money of a RAM upgrade, ordered 2GB (1GB x2) of Mushkin RAM for it.

Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Green 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 333 (PC 2700) Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model 991372

This should give it some much needed speed. As for the monitor, it's taking some getting used to, as it's an older one (NEC MultiSync LCD 1960NX), but must have been a popular one, as it's original MSRP was $728, a lot more than the PC itself cost. My intentions are to prepare it to run Windows 8. I believe that it can be done at a minimal cost, with a little learning, which I'm not afraid of.

Cat