This story was originally published 2020/03/31
9:20am PDTon Mar 31, 2020 and last updated 2020/06/13
9:53am PDTon Jun 13, 2020. 

Laptops are in short supply globally—especially cheap ones like Chromebooks. But if you have an older Windows 7, 8, or even Vista laptop sitting in a closet somewhere at home, it's possible you can convert it into a secure and relatively performant Chrome OS device with the use of a totally free tool. The benefits are obvious: your old laptop gets a new lease on life, and you don't spend any money. As long your laptop still basically works, it's entirely possible you can be up and running with Chrome OS using just a USB stick and the relatively simple instructions below in minutes.