Turn your old PC into a File Server
If you want to give that old computer new life on your home network, try using it as a file server for music or pictures or whatever so that no matter where in the house you are you can access your massive digital library from any computer. Here’s what you’ll need to do…
It’s very simple, but a lot of pictures and good explanations for those who don’t know. I would say people who are not experienced need a bit of hand holding through something like this. If they are not a member of a user group or something, this kind of article may prod them along into actually “getting their hands dirty”. Everybody has to start somewhere.
It is a very good article for what it is, though I have to agree with the rest that Linux is a much better solution for what this tutorial is trying to accomplish. On an old computer, Windows XP causes the actual data transaction rate to be slower because it’s taking most of the processing power itself! I’d recommend using something other than Windows to run on the fileserver. Windows requires more power than most old computers will run. Try some Linux distro specialized in this.
One of the problems using windows to share files is that there is a limit on how many other computers can connect to it. With XP Home I think the limit is only 5. With XP Pro and windows 2000 I think it’s 10.
There’s some other cool more advanced stuff on that site. I think the article was informative for many people who didn’t know how to do that.