Generally Hopeless

Thanks RickC,
I found the Porteus XFCE 32-bit iso and downloaded. Once on a usb drive, I gave it a try.
I don't have any clever benchmarks figured out so I just try searches in Firefox to gauge speed. I did notice on the XFCE distro that the cursor seems to keep up with my typing (can't say that for all linux versions that I've tried).

I now have Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Porteus CINNAMON, and Porteus XFCE. Each on its own usb drive. Over the next week or so, I'll try to become more familiar with each and develop some kind of reasonably accurate means to compare their performance. In my case, the main criteria is speed. With RAM limited to 2Gb and 1.6 Ghz processor, I need to use something easy on system resources if I am to have acceptable performance. Somewhere in these four Linux versions, I think I will find what I need.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my posts and offer suggestions. It has really helped.

Why not send this dinosaur to the recycle center and buy something more modern?

bfunke said:

Why not send this dinosaur to the recycle center and buy something more modern?

I have several up to date "modern" laptops. The reason for the experiment with the Acer was not about upgrading my equipment. It was about learning something. Not an I.T. expert, but I do enjoy learning how things work and how to improve them. So far, I've only invested about $20 in the Acer project, but I've learned a ton about how operating systems can have a major impact on the performance of a machine.

The once useless Acer is now, with a lite weight linux distro is a very usable laptop. Once I get it sorted and loaded with basic applications, I will likely gift it to someone who could use a laptop but not afford one.

Berton said:

It's nice to get things to be useful and keep out of the landfill, especially when the recycle center doesn't take them anymore, got too expensive to transport for little or no return.

Agreed. Some kid can use it for a while.

TomTT2 said:

I installed the 32 bit version of Firefox. I also installed the SlimBrowser ot see if it was faster.

Is this kind of performance pretty much the norm for an old 32-bit laptop or am I missing something important?

Firefox IS slower compared to other web browsers, you can find info about this on the web and confirm it yourself. This browser (BTW is my favorite browser) goes easier on your resources, specially on the battery, it will generally make your laptop work for longer periods than other browsers, you might want to try a different browser if speed is what you want, but with old hardware keep in mind you might not gain much, as it might struggle with Chrome, I don't know for sure.

I've had similar projects as the one you describe, in general:
- SSD helped
- Modify Firefox to disable session intervals (to avoid wearing out your disk)
- Ram, 4G ideally on x64, 2G obviously for x32
- Use a SEPARATED HDD for virtual memory, I usually replace the DVD with a caddy (your model won't allow this)
- Disable Windows services that aren't needed
- Windows Defender as antivirus, because it uses less resources
- As others suggested, install Ublock Origin to avoid advertising or stuff you don't want on webpages
- Consider a modified (by you) Windows 10 version, remove bloatware
- Consider installing an older version of Windows 10 (latest versions are noticeably slower) and disable updates

To gain some extra speed, install Windows 8.1, yes, I've tested this and works way better, faster, and using less resources. There is still a supported version of Firefox. And if you still want extra speed, then install Windows 8.1 embedded x32, it's the fastest thing ever.

I have also tried this with Linux, Ubuntu 12-18 being my favorite and turning off (and removing) unattended updates (yes, it's a thing). In general I have noticed Firefox there works faster than in Windows, at least in my experience. And sure, Lubuntu as others suggested here, works better.