Can not upgrade browsers or windows Please help me

[LindseyR]

Hello everyone,
This is my first time on this site. I have had this thinkpad for 2 years before i cracked the code. Let me explain, my mother in law worked for cps for 10 years. In chicago they have had a lot of budget cuts on programs for cps kids. Also they had to close some schools. Because of that they basically gave the workers some things for free before laying them off. My mother in law asked my husband and his cousin if we wanted to come down and look through some things. This laptop actually had a tag on it saying the the screen is broken. Well, when I found a charger for it and cracked the code the screen was not broke. The laptop has a windows xp service pack 1 and i think updates for service pack 2. I have changed passwords and was able to log in as adminstrator. For some reason i can not update my intenet explorer or try using google chrome. I have Internet explorer 6 on here so far and some sites says that it is outdated and I have to update it before I can access the site. My questions is !. Should I get windows xp pro home edition. 2. How can do a master reset on the thinkpad. 3. Should i download driver detective. 4. Is A31 a mac os or windows os. Can someone please help me figure this laptop out. I really don't know where to go from here. Thanks for reading my long story and i would appreciate any feedback because anything will help me now.

[Cigarguy]

Your A31 is a Windows machine. Sounds like Win XP was loaded on it. It was probably a proprietary setup by the school which explains why it had a Windows password and software that is really outdated. If you look at the sticker at the bottom of the machine there's a 7 digit product id number. If you go to Lenovo's website and enter that code it will tell you the specs of this machine when it was shipped. You will also find some useful manuals and driver software too. If you post that product ID here we can better help you out.

The A31 is a fairly old machine but can still be useful. Without knowing the specs, I would consider upgrading a few components but would not spend to much $$ on such an old machine. I would definitely recommend doing a fresh install of Windows XP.

[ganon11000]

It will have a XP Pro or windows 2000 COA on the bottom (get the matching OS) as for Mac OS X I tried a failed with my A31, well it doesn't matter, XP is still good enough!

There may be Rescue and Recovery available for your ThinkPad if you see the option in BIOS (F11)

BTW mine still plays 360P YouTube, Age of empire 3 in medium, and can run Spotify, COMODO Dragon (fastest version of chrome ever!), Facebook Messenger for Windows, TPFC and Avast! Free Anti-Virus at the same time with little lag (new - made in 2007 - IDE HDD)

also be aware that it may or may not have a security chip installed whic may need to be deactivated before installing another OS or HDD!

[Neil]

If you want to continue using the installed version of XP, you will have to install Service Pack 2 from Microsoft. Windows update does not work any longer for any thing without SP2, and in April next year there won't be any more updates for XP at all.

IMHO, the best way to keep an old machine like that useful is to install a current, but light weight, Linux distro. There are even some that have the look and feel of a Mac OS, if that is what you are used to. I would not even think of spending money are a new Windows license, because computers as old as an A31 won't work very well with Win7 or 8 anyway.