I bought a new (USED) PC that is password protected, Now what???

[jluck]

Before you buy another PC, what is the Model number of the Dell tower you have?

Dimension 8400

 

[jrprich]

Dimension 8400

OK, somewhere on the cabinet there should be a Dell sticker that also gives you the Service Tag number or Express Service Code number. With that you can see the exact specs and access all the original drivers.
BTW, that is about a 10-11 year old PC.
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/dimension-8400/manuals

 

[jluck]

that is about a 10-11 year old PC.
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/dimension-8400/manuals

I appreciate your (and others) willingness to help but tat sentence makes up my mind. I am going to get something new that will be a bit more modern and relevant. I got this one for next to nothing and was going to give it a shot but I just don't want to keep reviving a dinosaur.

Thanks guys.

 

[jrprich]

I appreciate your (and others) willingness to help but tat sentence makes up my mind. I am going to get something new that will be a bit more modern and relevant. I got this one for next to nothing and was going to give it a shot but I just don't want to keep reviving a dinosaur.

Thanks guys.

That is a wise decision.
Get a PC with at least an Intel Core i3-2100 Processor

 

[Member 5605]

I appreciate your (and others) willingness to help but tat sentence makes up my mind. I am going to get something new that will be a bit more modern and relevant. I got this one for next to nothing and was going to give it a shot but I just don't want to keep reviving a dinosaur.

Thanks guys.

Anything you do at this point will be almost pointless. The parts are old, harder and harder to find. Some of these have trouble running newer operating systems. I think XP is about all that computer can handle. Top that with the hard drive that's probably on it's way out already.

Sorry.

Our family has a Dell that we bought 5 years ago.
It always ran like crap, I upgraded ram, kept the operating system fresh etc.

A couple months ago I decided to change out the hard drive. It had the old style, rotating type. Why my brain is drawing a blank I don't know... but anyway. I swapped it out for a Solid State Drive. It made everything we do faster. With 10x faster read and write times it has made me second guess getting a different computer.

Sadly you cannot put a newer hdd into that older machine. The SSD's are the bomb and recommend anyone getting a computer that has one or has the SCSI connection where you can put one in it.

 

[Redcap]

I appreciate your (and others) willingness to help but tat sentence makes up my mind. I am going to get something new that will be a bit more modern and relevant. I got this one for next to nothing and was going to give it a shot but I just don't want to keep reviving a dinosaur.

Thanks guys.

Good call.

 

[RicInOR]

Your location says this is a bit far, but in Cornelius there is a re-sale shop for used computers. They buy pallets of them from businesses which are upgrading their stock. That could work.

But - $250 you can have a brand spanking new computer, which would be "better" than the one you are asking for help with.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-15-3531-laptop/pd?oc=fncwc3001h&model_id=inspiron-15-3531-laptop


I got nothing for or against Dell. Just saying that you can get an inexpensive computer.
Less if will be satisfied with an Atom processor, or a Chrome Book.

If you can spend a few more $$ upgrade processor to a "core" 3rd generation are the cheapest on sale now - 2 years ago - 5th generation just went on sale.

But the biggest bang for the buck, add memory.

 

[jluck]

Your location says this is a bit far, but in Cornelius there is a re-sale shop for used computers. They buy pallets of them from businesses which are upgrading their stock. That could work.

But - $250 you can have a brand spanking new computer, which would be "better" than the one you are asking for help with.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-15-3531-laptop/pd?oc=fncwc3001h&model_id=inspiron-15-3531-laptop


I got nothing for or against Dell. Just saying that you can get an inexpensive computer.
Less if will be satisfied with an Atom processor, or a Chrome Book.

If you can spend a few more $$ upgrade processor to a "core" 3rd generation are the cheapest on sale now - 2 years ago - 5th generation just went on sale.

But the biggest bang for the buck, add memory.

I know how I work... I keep suffering with my slow old laptop until I'm utterly at my wits end and go buy some hotrod that's way more than I need.