OK. I will re-present my comment .
Win10, from my experience of using contemporary software on 15 - 20-year-old hardware, will 'probably' run like a 3 legged donkey. From my experience, I have found that some Linux distros are light enough to work with old hardware............................................................................................ ...........
It is able to boot from a USB.
I tried ubuntu a couple of times, but could never get it to recognize my WiFi. It was also rather sluggish. Spent a couple frustrating days and unhappy with the results. I'm a former applications programmer, not a sys admin. I used Linux a bit back in 2002. I still find it very difficult to install and set up.
It's probably time I retire that old 2005 laptop.
It depends. In these times you never know when ur gonna need an extra PC. I tend to keep the working ones. (sidenote ~ 15y ago, my mom recycled my Intel 8086...)
You can keep the Xp and protect it (for grandma or grandkid), or you can install stripped version of win7(for schoolkid onward).
I usually go for a modern Linux OS ~ q4OS or Bodhi. If gpu is supported and/or you can use YouTube normally, PC is usable.
My Dad as a very old single core AMD machine with 128gb storage. It was running very slow in Windows. I've put Ubuntu on and its much faster.
I've been playing with Linux these last weeks and have had mixed results. Despite what Linux fans claims it's kinda like install Linux and try to mess with it as little as possible... or you'll have stability issues.
I've tried Zorin OS and Ubuntu Mate. The former is zippy, stylish... and not so stable. The latter is 'dated' with less features... but appears to be rock solid.
My best advice is install Linux on a USB Thumb drive, boot to it on a faster PC, and play with it for hours. On the drive, not on the PC. Make sure things work (trackpad, printers) and if you find a distro you like -- install it.
The speed increase will happen.
A computer that old might work better with Windows 7 instead of Windows 10.
I have an old laptop that I bought in 2004. It came with Windows XP Home. I upgraded the RAM from 1GB to 2GB (max supported). Seven years ago I upgrade the O/S to Windows 7 Home. The computer works fairly well. All the hardware appears to work OK.
Earlier this year I tried to upgrade it to Windows 10. This was a disaster because of the lack of working drivers that worked with Windows 10. Neither the wired or wireless hardware had working drivers. I gave up and went back to Windows 7.
The point is don't give up on a computer just because it is not able to run Windows 10. Try Windows 7 or some version of Linux.
Use Windows 32 bit as already mentioned. You might have to use this version anyway unless your CPU supports all the 64 bit instructions needed for the 64 bit version of Windows 10.
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