2GB RAM I think you mean. CPU performacne cant be measued in MHz alone..some '2.6GHz' CPUs are very slow, some are very fast....

I'd guess more like 2003-2005, and you've got a slow 2.66GHz celeron or P4.

Msuic, should be fine. Videos..depends on what format and size.

Argh. Gah.

You Maudio card is supported. If it wasnt, it wouldnt work with any distro at all. Better yet, it should be working 'out of the box' with pretty much every distro.

You cant buy your way out of trouble with linux...you're _more_ likely to have issues with some dodgy USB sound card than a M-audio card.

You have several choices- keep running XP once its out of support. A very bad idea, unless you like being hacked and part of a bot net. Or keeping trying to find a magic distro that will work without any input from you. Or learn a bit more, at least enough to get some help+ from forums etc.. Or buy an apple and all apple addon hardware.

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On a security question: > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Security > which one? which linux operating system is better for security?

plus read the other posts there...

Errrr, http://cluedenver.org/

You might be able to take the desktop to them and have them set it up for you.
If you lived in my town. I'd have you running in about a hour.

They will probably download and install while you stand there watching or have install dvds on hand.

Shoot: Edit: my bad, sorry. I missed the date listing. I'll search some more.

2nd edit: Maybe http://www.nclug.org/ or http://lug.boulder.co.us/ or http://pplug.org/

You have a lot more choices than I do in my area.

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You're correct about the ram ... 2 GBs. I'm doing some seaching on evilbay for a beefier mobo that can accept more ram. Argh, Gah you say... I'm laughing now. So, sounds like the more popular distros can see that M-Audio card which is good because I ordered Linux Mint 16 yesterday from osdisc. If this isn't the case there's always Wine. XP ? I'd stop using that unless I just wanted a computer that never went on line. A lot of things will still work, you just have to be careful about what you import. If you get in trouble you can roll it back. Slightly off topic : Does Linux need any kind a maintenance program ? I use Vcom Fit-It for windoz, but Linux doesn't have a registry, correct? Maybe a system without a registry would work better. ..... Thanks

I like your links

You will be fine with 2GB of RAM. Changing the motherboard to something that supports more RAM will likely end with also changing CPU and RAM. Likely it would be cheaper to buy a new system.
Wine will not help with using Windows drivers, it is for applications only.Rolling back would be a waste of time. If there is a security hole in it rolling back will not fix that.

There are a few, but I never used one, as I never use one on Windows. Those cleanup programs are usually a scam to press some money out of Windows users that don't know better.