[chrisvan]

I picked up a second computer that has no operating system. Is there any way to use the operating system on my working computer and install it in the second one?

[psi42]

I picked up a second computer that has no operating system. Is there any way to use the operating system on my working computer and install it in the second one?

It really depends on what operating system you are running. Some OSes are designed so well that you could literally just copy all the files from your current hard drive to that of your new computer, make a few minor configuration changes, and be up and running in no time.

Unfortunately, other OSes, such as microsoft's windows, will not take kindly to being torn out of their comfort zone. Simply not designed for modularity and flexibility, these OSes can really be a pain. You will probably run into problems if you try to simply clone a windows partition onto another hard drive in a completely different computer. (Although, with a lot of headaches, it could be done). If you had, the install discs, that would be another matter...
Even so, as far as ms-windows goes, unless you have a windows-license for each computer, you will probably be breaking their draconian enduser license agreement by doing this.

Have fun,
~psi42