Refurbish and Reinforce Laptop

I took an outdated laptop and gave it a second life with Linux Mint XFCE, optimizing it for privacy, speed, and daily usability.

Performance Boost: Improved overall system responsiveness by switching from a bloated OS to a lightweight Linux distribution, XFCE.

Hardware Replacement: The old HDD was removed and replaced with an SSD to improve speed.

Branding Touch: Customized the boot splash screen with a CyberCorks-branded Plymouth animation.

Security & Privacy Tools: Preinstalled apps like Proton VPN, ClamAV, and Firetools, and configured a hardened firewall with limited local access.

Custom Recovery USB: Instead of a stock recovery image, I prepared a USB with a clean, pre-configured setup to restore or reinstall. This allows for quick and easy installation into other aging hardware using Rescuezilla.

Persistent Defaults: Ensured system tweaks, security apps, and preferences were baked into the OEM setup so they’re ready upon first boot.

This project shows how aging hardware can be repurposed into a secure, privacy-focused machine, perfect for daily use or specialized tasks.