Teon

Install a Linux Distro. Connect to external monitor, plug power into wall.
Use it for a dedicated torrenting machine or use it as a test machine for whatever you like. If you kill it, whatever.
Otherwise I would just take that SSD out and recycle the machine.

I use it often for sites I rarely will visit again. It keeps My Rules file from getting cluttered.
And it’s fun!!!

And just to add to your important point, Ad Blockers are really Content Blockers. They allow the user to delete annoyances that have nothing to do with advertising. We should all start calling them Content Blockers.

Namesilo and Namecheap are good registrars. I suggest Namecheap for hosting.

F-Droid has a few choices in it’s repos. Privacy Browser, Mull, just to name a few.