Linux Archives - Page 6 of 9 - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Can I transfer the Windows license from my dead laptop to a new PC?

Posted on October 23, 2018

Question from Leonard M.: I have an HP laptop that recently got ruined when my basement bedroom flooded. I was told that it can’t be fixed.

I’m planning to build a new desktop PC from a bare bones kit and I’m hoping I can install the Windows 7 that came with the dead laptop on it because I really don’t want to switch to Windows 10.

Will I be able to install my old Windows 7 on the new computer? I have a set of restore DVDs that I made from the laptop when I first got it.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

ReactOS – Another alternative for replacing Windows on an older PC

Posted on July 26, 2018

A while back I wrote this post about how replacing the now-abandoned older versions of Windows (such as XP and Vista) with Linux can give an older Windows PC a new lease on life.

I’ve received a lot of great feedback from that post from readers who have given Linux a try. Most of them seem to be happy with it, but many others not so much.

Several folks from the “not so much” group have asked me if there’s a non-Linux alternative to Windows that will actually run Windows programs instead of generic Linux-based alternatives.

Well, as it turns out the answer is yes. [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I make Chrome stop asking for a password on my Linux laptop?

Posted on July 18, 2017

Question from Oliver: After reading your post about replacing Windows with Linux I decided to give to try it on an old Windows Vista laptop that I haven’t used in a while.

I took your advice from that post and installed Ubuntu. The installation went fine, and just as you predicted that old laptop now runs a LOT faster than it did with Windows!

Since I’m the only person that will use this machine I removed the password in the user settings and set it to boot into Ubuntu without having to enter a password.

Now the laptop boots up without asking for a password to log in, but every time I load Google Chrome I get a message telling me to enter the password, and I can’t do anything with Chrome until I enter the old password that I deleted from my user account. This is the message I get:

“Enter password to unlock your login keyring“

How can I stop Chrome from asking for a password?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I find out if my computer has a 64 bit CPU?

Posted on October 24, 2016

Question from Bobby E.: I bought a computer at an estate sale a few days ago. The lady told me her dad had built the computer himself a couple of years ago but she didn’t know anything about it. I think I got a good deal because it only cost me $30.

Apparently there’s no operating system on the hard drive, and I’d like to install Windows 10 on it and use this PC as a backup Internet-only computer.

What I’d like to find out is if the CPU is a 32 bit or 64 bit chip. If it has a 64 bit CPU I’d like to install the 64 bit version of Windows 10. How can I find out?

I really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: What should I do with 168 identical Dell computers running Windows XP?

Posted on September 14, 2015

Question from Eddie V.: The county I live in had a massive auction of surplus items and I ended up buying 168 Dell OptiPlex 755/SDT desktop computers. They all appear to be identically configured with these specs:

1.8 GZ Dual Core Pentium CPU
1 GB RAM
80 GB Hard Disk
DVD-RW Drive
19″ Dell Monitor (older CRT type)
Windows XP Pro

I know that older computers aren’t worth a lot these days, but I thought these were worth a bid simply because there were so many of them. I ended up winning the auction and paying $216 for the lot.

My big concern is they might not be worth anything at all since Microsoft has officially killed off Windows XP. What do you think I could do with these computers to make a little bit of money from this deal?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]