Notebooks// Laptops

on occassion someone will give me their old notebook or laptop......knowing I usually manage to refurbish them..then give then to those who can not afford to purchase computers........

however my lack of knowledge does restrict my efforts.....an could use some suggestions.
in many cases the notebooks are command line...an useless to most people.....question: is there a way of putting Windows onto notebooks?
the laptops....most often has windows 95 installed....either have been hit by viruses\trojans or have had system files deleted or corrupted.....to date refurbishing these have been 100% successful......an extremely time consuming......question: would it be possible to simple purchase upgrade os...an install the upgrade.....the upgrade would need to be on floppy..is that correct?
please keep it simple folks.......thanks to all

 

Hi snowy!

I'm currently using my 2nd notebook.

Win 2000 is out of the question in your case as it requires relatively large amount of RAM and newer BIOS for effective functioning. Also, hardware support is a problem.

That leaves Win 98SE (an upgrade of Win 9.

If you're able to get Win 98SE on floppies that would require many many of them which means installation is very error prone (faulty diskette) and time consuming.

Older notebooks/laptops (I mean PI or PII) also have RAM and ports limitations (like no USB or Firewire ports) as well as no built-in CD-ROM drive.

The only fast and effective way out I can see is to install Win 98SE from CD by purchasing an external USB-to-serial/parallel port converter so that you've a wider choices of USB CD-ROM drives to select from and upgrade your OS to Win 98SE from CD. At the same time increase the RAM to the maximum and change the hard disk to a faster one.

Alternatively, buy an older external parallel port CD-ROM drive (if any around) for this purpose. Advise your recipient to use a defragger like Norton Speed Disk, VoptXP etc to regularly defrag the hard disk.

If your older notebook/laptop has a built-in CD-ROM drive (like earlier models of PIII) then by all means use it and apply the same for the above as well.

Hope it helps.

 

We Sim

greetings.....been a very long time...hope life has been treating you well......great sharing with you again

Yes...your post was a great help...I was not awear of the cd extra......will defintely look into that. Most of the laptops are old......but useable.....every laptop goes to children....when I can find one I throw in a printer.....an always a game or two.....LOL
I don't mind spending a couple of hundred to purchase any needed software that would make this job easier...as long as the software can be used to refurbish all the laptops......after reading your post I realized that I should consider an os like Mandrake.....mainly because its free and is legal to re-copy.......total install around 2000 mb.......
but you defintely opened a new door ....thank you


snowman