So I get a Dell P4 system...

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pelo

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So I get a Dell P4 system from a family friend who wants me to "fix" the computer. It's NetBurst in all its glory. It runs 32-bit WinXP Pro and absolutely littered with viruses malware.

I don't have time for this shit, but because my folks insisted on helping them out I now can't back out of a promise

...that I never made...

This has apparently happened a few times and for some reason an outdated IE and WinXP can't protect them from the baddies of the internet (shocker). I don't know what kind of kinky porn sites they're browsing, but sweet jesus is it bogged down.

I put this in the OS section because the OS issue is what's pestering me. There's just no way I'm not going to install XP on this if I'm just going to find that they're begging me in two weeks. Win8 seems like a decent idea, but they're very much accustomed to the way XP operates and will find Win8 to be a case of 'where is my internets button'? I can opt to go with Linux but then I'd probably face the same issues, minus malware headaches.

My question to you dudes/dudettes is: What do? Should I install Win8 on this hot n' hungry bad boy or just yank the drive and salvage what's left and tell 'em to buy a new machine? Maybe even go Linux so they can avoid this shit in the future?
 
Try out a couple linux distro's and pick the most simple, cleanest, Microsoftiest one.
Shoot, you can probably even install a "theme" that would mimic XP.

Throw Firefox on the desktop and call it a day.
 
New machine. At my old job there were a lot of Dell P4 machines and they are slow as hell. You should tell them its a security risk and that their private info (credit cards and shiz) could easily be jacked. Heck, you could get a cheap AMD fusion system that would run circles around that for 300 bucks
 
I would install Win 8, the security is much improved. If they 'freak out', install a classic start button program. I don't think they will, most people who freak out seem conditioned to do so, they read blogs/forums that say they should, etc. I've installed Win 8 on a family member's computer who is not computer literate and she picked it up just fine, with a little instruction (like where to click to get to the start screen, and how to shut down.)
 
Check the processor and BIOS settings to make sure the system supports NX-Bit before going with Windows 8. Some Netburst generation CPUs support it and some don't, and Windows 8 requires it to install and function.

Personally, I'd just go for Ubuntu or just say their machine's perma-fucked, especially if you're getting no compensation out of this.
 
You need a lot of ram on a Pentium 4 for Windows 7. I assume Windows 8 would be the same.

I installed Win 7 on a spare Pentium 4 2.8ghz I've got around here - I keep it as a spare PC because it works with my tivo-restaging-program properly.

With a cheap AGP graphics card (I put an oldschool AGP ATI 9600-class card in it IIRC) it ran pretty well - with a lot of RAM. Beware you'll probably spend some time extracting / manually installing XP drivers for sound and such to get everything working.

Don't try to run Win7 on 512mb with a P4. It'll run a few windows but get very slow. Don't even think of it with 256MB.

You can run win 7 on old hardware but you definitely need to up the RAM to a GB or two.
 
To be honest if they like XP that much I'd spend a hundred bucks and grab an off-lease Core 2 machine from ebay.
 
How much RAM does a barebones Win8 install chew up? Win7 isn't even in the realm of possibility for this thing.

I also think I may just grab the HDD and dump the rest. I tried plugging in my M+KB and, although they were recognized in the BIOS (was fiddling about in there before booting it up), it wouldn't allow me to use either once XP came up, or tried to. Judging by the fact that the BIOS recognizes both I'm convinced it's a software issue, but I think I'm just going to recommend they buy another PC and I'll just swing their files over. I'd like to install a light version of Linux with KDE and get it over with, but I have a feeling they'll need MS Office :/
 
Boot off parted magic and format the main partition, then make the recovery one active, reboot and let it restore factory os, then windowsupdate the hell of it :D
 
I wouldn't throw Windows 8 on such an old machine. Put XP back on it then delete IE icons from the desktop and give them Firefox or Chrome. Oh and you might want to give them a restricted user account that can't install software. (That helps a lot.) Though that has it's own drawbacks.
 
Dan_D said:
I wouldn't throw Windows 8 on such an old machine. Put XP back on it then delete IE icons from the desktop and give them Firefox or Chrome. Oh and you might want to give them a restricted user account that can't install software. (That helps a lot.) Though that has it's own drawbacks.
Click to expand...

Apparently that was done the last time and it still went Kablooey.

I'm not going to install XP on that machine given the issues they've been having with malware. I saw Chrome there and it was used but it seems like that even that hasn't prevented it from happening again.

I'm thinking about telling them to go buy a tablet. A walled garden sounds like it's exactly what they need.
 
Man, a P4 is an old box! I can't even remember what speed those things run at.

Microsoft says you'll need this to run Windows 8: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/system-requirements

I'm also pretty sure that they'll need a monitor and graphics card that can do 1368 x 768 in order to play around with Metro apps, but don't quote me on that.

Oops! Nope, I was wrong! You only need 1024 x 768 to run Metro apps. The higher resolution is if you want to snap Metro apps.

I still think you could make a heck of an argument that a P4 machine is fully amortized by this time and that the improvements in security alone would warrant an upgrade to a brand new machine. They probably paid a small fortune for that P4 when it was new, maybe they don't realize how reasonably priced modern hardware is?
 
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Install XP and tell them to get one of those deep freeze apps, I had a repeat customer that did the same thing every other month....spam, virus, etc.
Even though I kept a ghost image of her PC at my house, and charged her $45 to reghost it back every time, it got tiring.
so now if she has a problem, she reboots and its back to working great
 
dbwillis said:
Install XP and tell them to get one of those deep freeze apps, I had a repeat customer that did the same thing every other month....spam, virus, etc.
Even though I kept a ghost image of her PC at my house, and charged her $45 to reghost it back every time, it got tiring.
so now if she has a problem, she reboots and its back to working great
Click to expand...

Deep Freeze kicks ass. I deployed it at a college once. It really eliminated most of the routine reimaging of machines because students screwed them up.
 
pelo said:
It runs 32-bit WinXP Pro and absolutely littered with viruses malware.
Click to expand...

Stop right there. Don't waste time and just re-install Windows XP.
Better yet, buy a cheap copy of Windows 7. Windows 8 is cheaper and you can force them to use it. This is what you get for bothering me!!!!

Honestly, do the world and yourself a favor and get them off of XP.
 
I'm in the same boat (family friend, old P4). I ended up going through my old parts stash and getting it upgraded to a newer Core2Duo and Win7. Her old machine wouldn't be capable of anything at all (p4 1.8).

If you have old parts laying around that you aren't using, maybe a small upgrade? Or just tell them that it's not worth fixing because it's worth $12. You can say you can upgrade it for a small fee, or have them buy a newer one.
 
Either install Windows XP (With Deep Freeze) to lock down the system so that if they reboot, it will restore to its current state. Or go with Linux...That box is really old.
 
Win 7 actually does run fine on a P4 class machine as I commented before. As long as you dump 1.5-2gb of RAM into it and perhaps slap an old $5-$15 graphics card in. A bit slow, but fine.

Of course at that point you're at like $40-$50 and you might as well scrounge up a off-lease Core 2 system or the like for sub-$100, like someone else suggested.

I had some success with my dad and winXP by locking him down with a firewall, MSE, and telling him to run Malwarebytes once a week.
 
I've reinstalled XP on P4 systems for a lot of customers. It's managable with 512MB of ram but I try to talk them into going to 1GB.

After installing and updating XP SP3, I install Firefox (or you could use Chrome) because FF/Chrome is going to be lightyears faster than IE8 when it comes to rendering content.

Then throw on MSE, set the DNS to Norton DNS (for bad link blocking), install OpenOffice/LibreOffice, and be done.
 
Tell them to buy a new pc and that it is not worth it to fix. I am also the PC guy in the family, but I had enough request of ooh my pc is too slow. This is what I do now:

What year is it from?
fam: well i think it was from 2004

I say:
That computer is too old and cannot be fixed anymore, the hardware the chip has reached its age.
So I suggest you to buy a new pc.
 
I'd clean install XP, Chrome, OpenOffice, and Bitdefender Free AV.
Chrome is arguably the hardest browser to hose due to the built in flash and tab/plugin sandboxing.
OO keeps them from trying to download cracked MSOffice.
BDFA has the same tech as it's bigger relatives so it's not going to let an infection in.
 
Find them a cheap something with Win7/8. It's just easier on you and P4s with 512 ram with XP SP3 is horrid.
 
pelo said:
So I get a Dell P4 system from a family friend who wants me to "fix" the computer. It's NetBurst in all its glory. It runs 32-bit WinXP Pro and absolutely littered with viruses malware.

I don't have time for this shit, but because my folks insisted on helping them out I now can't back out of a promise

...that I never made...

This has apparently happened a few times and for some reason an outdated IE and WinXP can't protect them from the baddies of the internet (shocker). I don't know what kind of kinky porn sites they're browsing, but sweet jesus is it bogged down.

I put this in the OS section because the OS issue is what's pestering me. There's just no way I'm not going to install XP on this if I'm just going to find that they're begging me in two weeks. Win8 seems like a decent idea, but they're very much accustomed to the way XP operates and will find Win8 to be a case of 'where is my internets button'? I can opt to go with Linux but then I'd probably face the same issues, minus malware headaches.

My question to you dudes/dudettes is: What do? Should I install Win8 on this hot n' hungry bad boy or just yank the drive and salvage what's left and tell 'em to buy a new machine? Maybe even go Linux so they can avoid this shit in the future?
Click to expand...

idea build them a cheep amd trinity system an around an A6-5400k for under 300
 
Never heard of Deep Freeze before. Looked it up, sounds awesome. Can let people do whatever the hell they want and then blam! Everything's undone.
 
westrock2000 said:
Never heard of Deep Freeze before. Looked it up, sounds awesome. Can let people do whatever the hell they want and then blam! Everything's undone.
Click to expand...

As commented on earlier, it is by far the most amazing product on the market for keeping machines in a frozen state and clears it out after each reboot. I work in education, and let me tell you, high school aged kids try to look at every site and try to hack every system that they can get their hands on.

I have it installed on 45 windows machines and 350 mac laptops. I have personally tried to get spyware and viruses on it. I have visited a few Russian porno websites and and illegal software websites selling bootleg stuff. Each and everytime, it boots back into a brand new state. Not a trace of spyware. Also, when you first install it, it allows you to program windows updates, as well as antivirus programs. You can unfreeze the home directory of "Thawspace" and allow a partition to keep files on. Basically a sandbox.

Def worth the $35 for a 1 year license if you plan on reinstalling XP on the P4 box.
 
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