Hi folks
Sorry if this is a repeat of other topics.
But I’m really tight on time to do research.
Need a laptop to install outlook on it and look at some old mail box (pst file) archives that may/may not have viruses in them.
Budget is $350 or nearest priced
Happy to consider refurbs
Thanks in advance.
Consider setting up a virtual machine instead. You can google what one is and sites for free software.
Can you not scan the pst files first?
VirtualBox
This is the correct answer, especially in you just stick linux in a VM and open the mail boxes there (if you can).
Can't you look at the mail without running programs in attachments?
If you have preview turned on there are JavaScript exploits that can run from the preview pane. Personally, I would YOLO, but we don't know OP's circumstances.
If you don't have the grunt on your own PC to create a VM you can rent a VPS for cheap
https://www.vmcentral.com.au/ - no promoting, just somewhere to start.
You might even find one that gives a few days trial before costing, so you can cancel if you get what you need from the files fast enough.
Just create a disposable drive by cloning your boot drive, then disconnect all your existing drives and boot off the disposable drive. Then when you're finished, re-connect your drives and wipe the disposable drive. Its the hardware way of doing a VM. It only costs you for a drive, not a whole computer. And it saves you all the trouble of installing another copy of Windows and everything else into another computer or VM.
Me, I have whole spare computers. If you want one, $160 on ebay gets you a refurbished HP T640 thin client with a Ryzen processor and 8GB of RAM, plus $20 for a 256GB M.2 NVMe drive, and you can download and install Windows on it, and leave it unactivated. Just plug a keyboard and mouse and screen and internet connection into it. There's plenty of other refurbs around the same price.
Refurb Lenovo ThinkPad from ebay?