When our computers get old most of us either throw them out, sell them or store them in a cupboard to be forgotten until you decide to have a bit of a clear out, then you find a dusty old relic from years ago that used to be your pride and joy. If the latter applies to you then you should dig it right out now, because I am about to unleash 3 top uses for your old computers!
1: Home Server
Do you have a large amount of music, pictures and films all stored on your main computer? Imagine if your computers hard drive were to fail and all of your data to become unrecoverable? This would of course reek havoc upon your life surely, so why don't you back this all up with a home server?
Step 1: Go and dig out that old computer you have neglected, I presume in a cupboard or a spare room?
Step 2: Dust it off, go on don't be shy! I'd also advise cracking the side panel off and getting a hoover in there to get rid of all the dust clogging the fans, it's not healthy!
Step 3: Determine if the hard drive is big enough for all of your files, if not then you may want to order a hard drive online. There are 1TB hard drives going for £50 if your computer accepts SATA. The hard drive will have a plug that looks like this on it:
If your computer doens't have one of these connectors then your hard drive is a PATA hard drive, this means that you may be limited. PATA hard drives on the market at the moment (trust me, there isn't many left) generally come in a maximum size of 160GB, so if your data to back up amasses this, then you may want to reconsider this use of your old machine, still 160GB is a lot of photos!
Step 4: Re-Install Windows onto your old computer, if you don't have a license for Windows then Linux is always an option.. (I wont explain what Linux is, but it's a really neat! Free operating systems!)
Step 5: If you are using Windows then enable home sharing, or home-group and configure your computer to share Music, Photos, Documents and Video. There are tutorials all over the internet for doing this, if not then leave a comment and I will help you!
2: Media Center
Have you always wanted your media collection to be streamed through the big TV in your living room? Well this is a potential use of an old computer.
Step 1: Assuming the computer already has Windows on it, download Xbox Media Center, this is a free media center application that runs on windows, don't worry... You DO NOT need an Xbox.
http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.3.exe
Step 2: Once you have followed the onscreen instructions to install XBMC you will want to connect your computer to your TV, most TV's have a VGA connector on them, so you can use a standard VGA cable to connect your PC to your TV. Configure your screen resolution to match that of your TV for comfortable viewing, you want at least a 720p resolution if your TV is a 1080p resolution TV. If your graphics card cannot do this, you may want to consider a cheap upgrade.
Step 3: Connect some speakers to your computer, not your TV and load some media onto the computer. Load up XMBC and give it a try, make sure you set in the preferences the location of your media files so that XMBC can find your media.
3: DOS Box
Ever lust over your 90s years playing games on windows 3.1, 95 or 98 and can't relive them because your flashy new windows 7/8 computer isn't compatible? No worries because you can now relive your Quake or Doom days with your old computer at hand!
Step 1: Get yourself an old operating system! Now I'm not suggesting ~pirating~ windows 95/98 but there really isn't any other way of obtaining those now obsolete operating systems.
Step 2: Install your chosen OS onto your old computer, and whack on some of your old games.
ALTERNATIVELY: Install a newer operating system like Vista/7 or 8 (if it is capable of that) and install a nifty program called DOS BOX Available here:
http://www.dosbox.com/
Install this and you can then run your old games as if your system still supports them!
I hope you find some of these suggestions breath new life into your old computer!
Joseph Wright - SCOTech
Step 2: Once you have followed the onscreen instructions to install XBMC you will want to connect your computer to your TV, most TV's have a VGA connector on them, so you can use a standard VGA cable to connect your PC to your TV. Configure your screen resolution to match that of your TV for comfortable viewing, you want at least a 720p resolution if your TV is a 1080p resolution TV. If your graphics card cannot do this, you may want to consider a cheap upgrade.
Step 3: Connect some speakers to your computer, not your TV and load some media onto the computer. Load up XMBC and give it a try, make sure you set in the preferences the location of your media files so that XMBC can find your media.
3: DOS Box
Ever lust over your 90s years playing games on windows 3.1, 95 or 98 and can't relive them because your flashy new windows 7/8 computer isn't compatible? No worries because you can now relive your Quake or Doom days with your old computer at hand!
Step 1: Get yourself an old operating system! Now I'm not suggesting ~pirating~ windows 95/98 but there really isn't any other way of obtaining those now obsolete operating systems.
Step 2: Install your chosen OS onto your old computer, and whack on some of your old games.
ALTERNATIVELY: Install a newer operating system like Vista/7 or 8 (if it is capable of that) and install a nifty program called DOS BOX Available here:
http://www.dosbox.com/
Install this and you can then run your old games as if your system still supports them!
I hope you find some of these suggestions breath new life into your old computer!
Joseph Wright - SCOTech
