How do I get the internet working?

[A.]

I have a Gateway desktop computer from I believe the year, 2006. A few weeks ago I got it working and everything but the internet stopped working on it a few days ago and it says there's no connection available. However the internet is working almost perfectly on my laptop.
It could actually be older from 2004 or 5. I don't remember the year my dad bought it.

[Fred]

you are lucky any machine that old ever sees the Internet. The last time those machines were any good for it they relied on all the latest updates for their hardware and operating systems before they would use it. None of these are available now. time for a new machine.