Here is where Microsoft has actually been kind to me. MS breaks MS and then folks just go buy a new computer and give me the almost new old one... lol
First thing Wipe and Linux, good to go...
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At work - If I needed a box for a project I’d just go talk to the the IT or supply guys. The secretaries would get their machines swapped out every couple years for the latest and greatest and the old machines still had plenty of life in them. They got a FreeBSD load.
Government guy gave me a little grief about that one year. Told him my way costs nothing in hardware or software. A windows machine with the same capability would cost him $15,000 minimum.
We went and had a drink. He was a Good Guy, didn’t mind him asking. Explained the how and why to him.
Cool! No sense missing a good opportunity to recycle... :)