OS Suggestion for old pc

Win 7 should run fine on it, i have a e6420 and a e7100 and they always ran fine on 7 and 8.1 and with 10 it started to get a bit slower over the builds.

With the 2GB ram i would go for x86.

 

Your Foxconn motherboard supports up to 8 GB(4 GB x 2) of DDR2-667 MHz RAM.
If yours has only 2 GB, it's going to have the speed and performance of a turtle when performing certain tasks.

We're not there to see how you set up your computer and how many installed apps it has, so there could be several reasons for its slow startup.
If you have a computer savvy friend or family member who can help you, that might be your best option.

 

@DhruboZ
This computer is able to run perfectly normal even with the latest 64-bit version of Windows 10, of course, if you add RAM. As mentioned above, you can use up to 8GB of RAM, but minimum is at leat 4GB.
The only question is whether you can find the drivers. This can be very difficult.
As for the fact that this computer is slow at the moment, you should first say what slow means.
By the way, when and how was this computer last maintained?

 

This should be clear enough.

 

If have no money, just need to clean it and check that the current OS is error free. Also check if all the drivers are OK and all registry entries are correct and there is no obsolete entries. This is the maximum you can do without no mony. Then you have to use only the 32-bit version and if you achieve a boot time of less than 3 minutes, you have reached the maximum possible that can be achieved with this configuration.

 

The Dell OptiPlex 755 minitowers that I had a few years ago had an Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33 MHz processor.
They ran Windows 7 Professional SP1 just fine, but they had 8 GB of RAM and had as few running processes as possible.
They were also maintained on a regular basis and had nothing installed that wasn't absolutely needed.
Even if DhruboZ did a clean reinstall and got a fresh start, it having only 2 GB of RAM is still going to be a problem.

 

Hi,

Recently reinstalled a W7 to a Compaq 6020s similar to your specs.

It runs fine on Boot Speed.
Browsing would be a bit slow with current one browsers and some configs, but acceptable.


I suggest to:

* Clean unnecesary ScheduledTask
* Clean unnecesary Services
* Clean StarUp Run items
* Check Fragmentation's level
* Add Reg Settings

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* MMC TasksManager
* AutoRuns from PortableApps
* SmartDefrag also from PortableApps
* StartUp Delay - This makes a difference. It Opens the Desktop faster and then runs the StarUp items
* Some Other Registry Settings - Read what are they for and disable unwanted before proceed

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Drivers UptoDate, SDIO and SnailDrivers helps on it.
As an easy overview, you could check SystemExplorer.
Mapped Drives Settings would slow Computer also.

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On my side,
I don't use AntiVirus, I prefer a custom HostsFile and uBlock.
Depending on the Computer's use would be enough + User's knowledge. (Browsing, AutoRuns on / and PlugIn Devices)
Otherwise, ClaimWin would help for specific situations. Available also on PortableApps.
--

You could try to rely on Portables when possible to lighten the system as well.
Also useful on OS Partition BackUps, Reinstalls and Upgrades.
--

 

Firstly, physically clean it, as sometimes heavy dust can wreak havoc with low current stuff...

Then, use an older version of Linux, made for such PCs, undemanding in RAM and processor power...

I would go for Ubuntu Mate, most probably...

https://www.technotification.com/2018/04/lightweight-linux-distributions.html

https://fossbytes.com/best-lightweight-linux-distros/

https://www.techradar.com/news/best-lightweight-linux-distro

Some not so well known: https://techlog360.com/best-lightweight-linux-distributions/

Good luck and have fun!

 

Spoiler: +1

Spoiler: debian xfce

Spoiler: xubuntu

 

Some more options, also with screen caps and min. hardware requirements given:

https://itsfoss.com/lightweight-linux-beginners/