How to Reinvigorate that Tired Old Computer

Not for newbies.

Download a live version of Linux, I'd suggest Puppy. Use software on the a newer computer to burn the iso image to a CD. Insert the CD in the old computer and set the BIOS to boot from the CD. Purchase a 8GB or 16GB flash drive (I'm assuming the old computer has a USB port) With the live Linux CD running mount the HD, search it for pictures by going to Documents and Settings folder and finding your user name. Then find your My Documents folder and in it will by Pictures. With the flash drive inserted in the computer mount it (by clicking on it) and drag the Pictures folder to the flash drive. Once you've done that you can use your other CD's to restore the computer and then copy the pictures back. If you have more pictures than fit on the flash drive copy them to a new folder on the new computer, delete them on the flash and copy more pictures until you have them all copied. Use NERO, Roxio or Sonic to burn image to cd. You can find Puppy at http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-5.2/lupu-520.iso and use the same instructions above.

Then watch GRUB hose your MBR and make your XP box unbootable.

Exactly the point, err.....thats the gist of this issue to toss the XP in favor of a lite O/S for the tired old puter.

I have been running Ubuntu with XP for several years now, and have had no trouble with GRUB hosing the XP sector. But I haven't updated XP for a long time now, and I never expose my Windows sector to the Internet. No problems. I have read somewhere that some Windows applications secretly store licensing information in the boot sector, which is where GRUB resides. I suspect the problem is with MS policy, which allows writing to the boot sector, is more at fault than GRUB. I did notice on a recent rebuild of the Linux sector to a newer version, GRUB changed significantly (I am not sure of the version numbers) but the XP sector still behaves normally.

You don't have to be that much of a geek these days to enjoy Linux- the other day I was visiting a client, and happened to notice she was running Ubuntu on her computer. When I commented on the fact, she responded, "I haven't the slightest idea what I am running- a friend of mine set it up. All I know is that it works!" Obviously not a geek...

I believe the3 intended use for Linux - Puppy is to run from a flashdrive and specifically to enable unbunggling Windows machines. Also it is designed be run from any computer, so you can go visit and plug your Puppy in and do your online banking etc. form the flashdrive and not touch the HDD.

I had a dual boot [with XP] for more than a year, never had a problem [your mileage may vary]

I'm running mint9 from a flash drive, on a laptop without a hard drive

it will run on any computer that will boot from usb [with all my settings & little programs]

I just set up a different computer with Mint9 this afternoon that has a 1.1ghz processor & 256mb ram

You do have to wait a couple of minutes for a youtube video to load, but you can watch

If I do too many things the screen will go gray, but I couldn't make it crash, I certainly could make it crash when it was an XP machine this morning.

I would suggest that if you want to do a dual boot, do it by adding a dedicated hard [or flash]drive for each operating system, all the different linux variations [distros] will easily see your files on the windows hdd

There are only a few things that work better on a windows box:

a few games & netflix

Puppy is really small, but the cost is you have to set up

Geritol.

(What the hey--it worked for Lawrence Welk, or vice versa.)

Or, if you're running XP or Win 7, and it ain't broke, leave it alone.

I installed Linux on my hard drive alongside Win 7. I got it working, and then spent 2 days undoing everything..................like steve said, it's not for newbies, it requires a certain degree of computer geekiness, conflicts arise with Windows, etc.

If someone really just wants a computer that works nicely without a lot of heartache, spend the extra money and get an Apple.........which I don't have.

Not that Linux isn't a good OS...............but there's more to it than just downloading and running with it. At least there was for me.