Hello there. My parents apparently just bought a new computer; their old one is infected with every worm and virus I've ever heard of and a lot more. I offered to reformat the hard drive and reinstall, but it didn't come with an OS disk and it doesn't appear to be capable of generating a reinstall disk. They did find a Windows XP disk, which I believe came with my brother's Dell. I suppose my first question, not really relevant to this forum, is: How much trouble would I get into for reinstalling XP with my brother's disk onto my parent's computer? My brother is still using that comp. But I probably won't do that now, since they just decided to get a new one. So I'm wondering what to do with this 2-3 year old computer. I'm wondering if I can set it up as some kind of server. Would it be possible to host a small MUD or host some kind of matchmaking lobby for an internet multiplayer game on it (which would be actually hosted by other players), over my DSL connection? If that fails, I might just use it to test networked programs, if I ever get that far. If it isn't obvious, I know next to nothing about this, so please go easy on me. Anyway, thanks for your time.

Well thats funny, because I'm in the exact opposite corner as you. I've got a dedicated DSL connection for a server, but I don't have a actual server computer (and I don't want to use my PC).

I don't know much about reinstalling XP, but If you want a server, you're going to need a good internet connection. Do you have a DSL or Cable line? Also remember that your family could be worried about hackers (as mine is). You might have to get a seprate connection for your server, so home computers don't get caught in the "crossfire".

Setting up a MUD sounds like fun. And you can usually find SOME use for a server. I say "Go for it!"

Just to clear something up: I don't live with my parents, I'd be using the DSL connection I use for my main PC.

Most of my worries are about how much stress I'm going to put on my connection, and if my provider is going to get pissed at me.

You could install Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP on it and you've got yourself an industry standard web-server. Combine that with a free service like freedns.afraid.org and you could host your own web-site over ur DSL connection.

Your provider doesn't care, quite likely. They may also not care if the service goes down a lot, but what you do with the service, is generally up to you (within reason, as long as it's legal). Remember, though, that a typical DSL connection will have a fraction of the downspeed as upspeed. For a MUD, that's probably no problem, though.

If you re-install Windows XP, and the machine is already licensed to run a copy of Windows, you're probably OK from a licensing point of view (although I'm not a legal professional, so that's not legal advice). However, the OEM install disks typically won't install on other-branded computers; typically they check a special vendor field in the BIOS data and bail out on other computers. If you have a retail copy of WXP, you can use that (although Windows Vista is allegedly only weeks away).

My recommendation would be to go with Linux (one of Fedora Core or Ubuntu seems like the two most widely spread distributions right now). Turn it on, turn off all incoming ports except for SSHD and your needed service (HTTP and your MUD, probably), and let it hum in a corner. Then again, I learned UNIX on a VAX in 1984, so I'm a little bit biased :-)