Repurposing Your Windows PC That Only Has A Max Of 4 GB of Ram

So, you got a cheap laptop PC that runs Windows, and you have an EMMC as your only storage system,–as an oppose to an SSD can be easy to upgrade,–if you have a machine that can get its disk upgraded with greater storage.

Putting old PCs to good use can be ideal for ANY of your projects.

This Post Is Inspired By Bright Side’s YouTube Video About Putting Old Computers To Good Use!

If You Can Upgrade Your PC

If you can upgrade your PC, you can put more RAM to it, and you can install a new drive to give your old computer an extended lifespan. This is common sense when you upgrade parts of your computer,–just like the way how typical consumers should do. We need to go back to this habit as a way to slow constant purchasing of new hardware.

For the best results; upgrade your computer to the highest amount of RAM as possible. A total of 64 GB is ideal.

Why does it matter?

• Reduces the burden of purchasing a new machine
• Proper maintenance
• Keep old computers out of landfills
• Keep features what you are used to

Turn It Into A Shopping Computer

Use Amazon, Walmart, InstaCart, Rakuten, or other store with your existing PC when shopping for essentials, toys, or other things of choice. This is ideal for ensuring your dedicated computer is designed for this application. However; you need to ensure you have enough RAM on your machine for the best experience.

Your computer’s disk can store receipts, and other important information when you review your items what you’ve purchased.

Turn It Into A Dedicated Streaming Player

If you are an avid streamer who stream content; you can repurpose your computer for this purpose. However; you may need to check if your OS is supported by these streaming services what YOU subscribed to, or you should better off getting a dedicated streaming TV for this purpose.

If You Stream Movies Or TV Programs

Ensure your OS is supported when choosing a streaming platform. Always go for legitimate streaming platforms what you trust. Never rely on torrent sites, and always avoid illegal streaming platforms that don’t have any licensing and other requirements.

You can sign up for these platforms, or use free platforms that are supported by ads:

YouTube

If you already have a Google account; you can use YouTube to watch a library of videos created by users who are creators.

This is a quick way to start watching videos. There are some movies what you can rent,–if you already have physical movies on your shelf.

I am not sure if YouTube will break up from Google because, I am predicting a huge breakup of Google, and I don’t know if YouTube will survive.

Pluto TV

This is a free streaming website what you can use for your computer that is going to be used for streaming. If you added more RAM to your machine; you can get the best experience. However; you may need to use common sense when picking a channel when streaming via this platform.

You don’t need an account for this service. In order to use this service, you need to disable your ad blocker.

You can use this platform to stream free TV as you do other tasks at home, such as: decluttering, office work, getting ready for work, getting your children ready for school, etc

Tubi

Tubi is the another free streaming service that enables you to watch free movies and TV series. This platform is supported by ads, and it remains so today.

Having an account if optional.

Disney+

If you are a fan of Disney movies, TV series, or you an avid Disney fan, you can sign up for this platform. It does have plans that are available to choose, I prefer ONLY subscribing to Disney+,–instead of a bundle. You can choose a monthly subscription with ads, or without ads. A yearly plan is available, and that will help you reduce the burden of monthly payments. A yearly plan enables you to subscribe to Disney+,–depending on what you are choosing in just one shot. However; the downside is, you must have a Disney account, and you need to be comfortable doing business with Disney.

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If You Listen To Music (Reggae, Soca, Ska, and other Caribbean genres only)

Using your old PC as a dedicated music player can be ideal for your business, or home,–or even your restaurant,–if you want to ensure you play other music genres what you want to play/support.

However; an upgraded PC (with upgraded hardware can increase performance of your machine. For this instance; a rapid response of going from 1 track to the another.

Graphics is NOT a priority when music is playing. However; music playback is usually a priority. If you installed a decent sound card, quality may be a factor, or if you have a custom-built sound card; that can work too!

Connect To Your Retro Stereo System What You Have At Home, Or Bought From Your Local Thrift Shop

Purchase a quality 3.5 MM cable with male ends, or an adapter with red and white audio connectors that will connect to your retro stereo system. You can buy those at your local music store, or online. Always AVOID knock off brands.

If you have a stereo receiver, check with its manual for a feature that includes an input for receiving audio from other sources. If you have a port available, follow the instructions:

1. If required, take your device to your local shop for cleaning, and inspection. Ensure you use highly trained/skilled technicians who will examine, test, and perform electrical repairs. Further repairs by you goes last. DIY repairs must be done with extreme caution.
2. Plug your device into a wall outlet. Confirm this machine is receiving power by checking for either a standby indication light, or something similar. If you don’t have these features; power it on manually. If you confirmed power is going into this machine, your machine is receiving power.
3. Prior to connecting your computer to an AUX port on your receiver; test it with a tablet, or TV by connecting one end to its earphone jack, and the other end to a stereo receiver. If you can get sound; calibrate your tablet’s volume to 100% and use downloaded royalty-free music from Incompetech, and play the audio file. Calibrate the volume on your receiver, adjust bass, treble, and balance to ensure you have the best sound.
4. Disconnect your tablet, or TV, and ensure your cable is NOT tampered by children, bullies, etc. Child-resistant tools are available at your local stores, or online.
5. On your working PC, go to Ubuntu’s website and download a latest copy of Ubuntu Linux, you need to download this OS for this purpose. Ensure you have a USB drive handy for later on. Alternatively, you can make a DVD that contains Ubuntu inside.
6. Go to your Windows PC what you are turning into a music streming player, and connect it to your stereo system. Calibrate its volume to 100%. Calibrate the volume on your stereo system.
7. Pop in your disc on your other computer. If its running Ubuntu already; follow the instructions when making a startup disc.
8. After making a boot disc, bring it to your computer what you are converting into a music player. Remove ALL of your sensitive files, and documents from your machine what you are converting.

9. Prior to rebooting your machine; ensure you perform checks in your area:

   Your children must NOT be involved in any horseplay, practical jokes, showing off, or any forms of trickery/deception – To prevent this, ensure your children are educated about safety when working on projects. If you were doing this as a family project, your project must be interactive. Never use your bedroom as your work area, use a suitable location where safety is important. Discourage distractions at all costs. They should never distract anyone from their projects.
   • You are using a safe environment – That’s important for safety!
   • Proper equipment is necessary.

   If you live in a home/apartment where you have a family member who is always entitled for something, you may need to migrate to a different location.

10. Go to your PCs firmware, and remove anything that is used for running Windows, disable secure boot, and enable hardware virtualization,–if you are attending to run Windows as an app on your machine.
11. Reboot your PC and install Ubuntu
12. Do a typical setup, and keep it minimal as possible. Install essentials for audio or video playback.
13. Configure automatic login for a single user. Optionally, you can implement more hardening. If you have children; ensure sexually-explicit content is properly blocked.
14. Disable automatic suspend/sleep features to keep this PC running, and disable automatic lock when a computer is idle. You don’t need those.
15. For Firefox, install an ad blocker to block ads. Or for Chrome; install PIE Ad Blocker, and test it.
16. Ensure your PC is connected physically to the internet with high quality cables. Always implement a dedicated line for this application.
17. After essential setup; and your install is done, perform tests to ensure your sound system is running correctly, you may need to write software patches to ensure you have a stable sound. Test and improve,–until you got your desired results, and update your system on a regular basis.
18. Visit YouTube, Spotify, or any radio station’s website by using a private browser.
19. Calibrate your PC’s volume to 100%. And calibrate your stereo receiver’s volume. Depending on your size of your speakers, further calibration is needed.

Connect your computer to a powersource with a backup power, along with your stereo system, and other equipment. Always go for a quality device.

20. Reconnect your devices.
21. Purchase a small LED monitor that will be used as your computer’s monitor, include a keyboard for input.

22. Turn on a screen-reader, and ensure you set the following:

    • Layout mode for content should be turned off – You can perform this by pressing the down key via “browse mode” by pressing Insert-A (for desktop layout users). If you can jump to any element on this webpage; you are done with this recommended setup.
    • Set progress bar updates to none – This is important to have the best experience. Do it for ALL browsers. Insert-Ctrl-Space is used for customizing even further by going to a name of a browser, or something similar.
    • Ensure you lock all screen-reader settings for the best experience. You can write a program that will prevent your screen-reader from being turned off. Using Insert-S to toggle speech is necessary for making changes, performing searches, etc.
    • Use the “Apply” button to apply changes, and active “OK” to close the dialog box.

    Calibrate the screen-reader’s volume, speech, varient of a voice (English GB, what I preferred), and ensure you set punctuation levels to either none, or some.

    Remove a computer mouse from your device, and store it in your cabinet for use later on, for wireless mice, inspect and change the batteries on a regular basis.

23. Optionally, connect a microphone to your PC for voice input. Use a Microphone that uses a 3.5 MM connector that connects to your dedicated input recording sound card, or an existing sound card on your PC. This is useful for voice typing, or using your voice to control your PC.
24. Orient your computer as close to your stereo system to ensure you have an easy place to perform maintenance. Your tower,–depending on a model can be oriented sideways to be part of your stereo system, check with its manual. If you have a horizontal case, note the size of a machine.
25. Place your dedicated CD player over your large stereo receiver, and place a cassette deck above your CD player. This is useful if you want to have working retro equipment, useful for people who don’t want to carry downloaded music files on their devices. Test these machines on a weekly basis, and perform repairs as a priority. Add a turntable for playing vinyl records to make it very classic.
26. Always have a dedicated room for music listening and grooving (recommended)
27. Now, enjoy your music with your retro stereo system, and you can have so many tracks to listen to.

If you Have A Dedicated Party Area

Ensure your equipment is properly positioned, and you rely on a stable internet connection. Don’t use wireless adapters for internet, use physical connections as a way to ensure you have a stable connection.

Don’t use living rooms that are already set for viewing TV content, or playing games.

Always have a dedicated party area that is easy to access.

Optionally, have extra equipment, please be mindful with people who have epilepsy. Don’t use flashing lights. However; you can setup a similar facility for people with epilepsy.

Ensure your music selection is clear for your patrons.

If You Are Setting Up A Music Player For Your Children

Ensure your selection of music is set for your children. Ensure they don’t have profanity of any kind.

Use blocking software to block sex-related content, pornography, erotica, and other unwanted content. Calibrate with care, and recalibrate each week. Test thoroughly, before you introduce your children to any of your music selection. Tell them why Hip-Hop, Country, Rap, R&B, and other genres are out of this question.

Positioning Your Control Port (optional)

Use a dedicated room, or a dedicated space to operate your dedicated music player,–if you are controlling it like any other computer. You may need to do it as you operate this machine as a DJ at your local arcade.

If you are setting up your control area intended for launching playback of music, you may need to ensure your computer is hidden.

Customize how your control port is going to be located, use common sense. A room with a locked door can be ideal,–useful for “Caribben only” parties hosted by you and your friends.

If you are a music lover, and you still use ad blocking software, such as PIE Ad Block; you can configure your PC to play music from these following resources:

• SoundCloud – Use this website to play ANY of your favorite musig genres. Reggae music, (including Soca and Ska) is more fun than Hip-Hop, R&B, Rap, Country, and other mainstream genres. Useful if you want to replace any music what your children don’t want to hear.
• Radio Station Websites – If you missed these stations because, you are at a different location, you can tune into these stations.
• Spotify – Not just for music, podcasts too!

Setting Up A Computer To Use An External Amplifier, Such As A Dedicated Amplifier For Music Rooms, Or Office Hallway

If you have a decent working computer dedicated to play music (with Linux installed as a native OS). However; you may need to upgrade your system when necessary.

If you rely on FreeDOS to play music via MP3 files, you can code your player to play tracks with your desired collection. However; you need to manually download from legitimate sources, or make your own Reggae, Soca, Ska, or any other Caribbean music. You can obtain licensing from record labels, or other resources that are available,–useful for arcades, restaurants, etc.

Gaming

Use your old computer to develop/play games. This is ideal for making games that don’t require intensive graphics. This is useful for making games that are designed to use as less RAM as possible, and develop open-source games for communities. Developing arcade games for your own arcade can also be ideal for making some extra money for your establishment. However; porting your games to other platforms that are either FreeDOS, Linux, or retro platforms is ideal for people who own old computers what they’ve cherished for many years..

If you only develop games on FreeDOS, and Linux distributions, you may need to ensure you are making games with care.

If you play games, you can use this PC for gaming, and you can still choose a game to play wisely.

Use It As A Digital Art Creation Computer

Use GIMP, or other open-source image editing programs to make digital art for your projects, such as: slide shows, animations, character development, OS development, and more. However; depending on a size of your RAM, you may need to use extra care as you do these projects. If you can upgrade your PC’s RAM, you can able to use these programs with no effort.

Don’t use Adobe Phtoshop! It takes more resources and money.

Develop Webpages

Use your old PC to develop webpages for a website what you are currently owning via a host what you support. This is ideal for developing static websites that require less updating. Useful for writing text-based websites that don’t use graphics as a primary form of content. If you are a gamebook developer, you can write gamebooks this way, and ensure you have enough resources to deploy updates to your server where you have gamebooks uploaded for people to play your games.

You can use a larger capacity disk for your computer to house HTML files what you are compiling for your website, and even your other projects for your creation online. Most skilled coders type on keyboards as a way to write code by hand.

If you write JavaScript as your preferred coding language; you can incorporate it to your webpages. However; you need to code with care, and watch out for possible security flaws when you write code for sensitive applications.

Use It As A Dedicated Device to Take Surveys And Make Some Extra Cash!

If you are using your old computer that is going to be used for taking surveys, you can use an existing operating-system, or switch it to a stable OS, such as any Linux distribution of choice, you may need to ensure you have the best version for your machine.

Taking surveys is usually text-based, and you interact with an online survey. SurveyJunkie for this instance; you earn points as you complete a survey. Well, with my experience… I often qualify for surveys… but sometimes; I don’t, and I can still earn 3 points, or if a survey has filled up, I can still earn 2 points.

However; for some surveys; you may need to use your video-viewing to take surveys, or rate advertisements,–or even do other activities.

If you are setting up a computer for taking surveys exclusively, follow these steps:

1. Check if your computer has an up to date OS. Windows is notorious of requiring frequent updates. If you have a used computer without a genuine copy of Windows installed, either go to Microsoft’s website and purchase license to install Windows via a product key what you purchased, or if you can’t afford Windows, pick a Linux distribution that is available as a substitute for Windows.
2. If your computer is up to date with the latest OS; ensure bloatware is removed. Remove unnecessary software from your machine. Or if you are starting from scratch, ensure your computer is capable of running this OS. Chrome takes more RAM space, use Firefox instead.
3. If you are capable of getting your RAM increased by adding a new module, ensure your machine is doing its job.
4. Install your Linux distribution of choice.
5. Secure your computer with a password,–applies to account creation. This is necessary to keep your survey activity from being used for other uses.
6. Ensure ALL non-essential software is removed from your machine, whitelist websites,–if you installed an ad blocker.
7. Use a text-editing program to keep track of how many points what you are saving up. You can make a milestone list for reaching your goals.

You can also have multiple accounts for people who often use this computer to take surveys, and earn extra points. However; your machine may be used up overtime.

Office Work, Business Tools, & Writing

You can still do office work, and write books as an author.

Office work doesn’t take much RAM or processing power. This is useful for doing light tasks on your computer, such as: inventory total amount of paper used on printers, draft contracts, handle documents that are used for logging payments for employees, and more.

Use It For Only Publishing Books (DRM-Free only)

NOT using YouTube, NOT streaming music, or you’re NOT streaming movies? No problem! You can use your old computer to only write books. Well, text-editing doesn’t take much processing power,–depending on which software what you are using.

If you already use Linux, you can use LibreOffice as your main office application.

You can just start writing by creating a blank document, and no other steps needed.

If you have a self-publishing account, you can publish books with no effort. However; you need the best browser for the best experience.

Inventory Items

You can use your old computer as a station to inventory items what you have at your local business, nursing home, arcade, restaurant, and more. This is useful if you are repurposing your computer for this purpose. Why do this?

• Saves you money on Microsoft Office, and other expensive software.
• You get full control of your database of items what you inventory.
• Ideal for reducing the burden of using Google Drive, and other online services.
• Permits you to gain privacy of your data,–without needing to deal with ads and other junk.
• Useful for keeping track of items during construction projects.

Write Movie Scripts

Writing a movie script can be a useful activity for your computer, text-based content is recommended.

Update Restaurant Menus

Use your old computer to update restaurant menus,–useful if you have customers who want to rely on a physical menu to order items.

Any sized restaurant can do this!

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