I realized I've been asking my question the wrong way. I have an old computer and hope to replace it. But it's used as a word processor, not hooked up to the internet. I'm borrowing a friend's laptop, and every few months its USB ports shut down and refuse to read anything plugged in, until it get updates from an internet hook-up.

This seems to be a newer feature. No one can explain what's going on, and I realized that's because hardly anyone has experience with a computer that's not online.

So, a long shot - does anyone here have an air-gapped computer, one that is not connected to the internet? Do you know where I can try to figure out what's causing this USB port problem? There must be some kind of tweak that can be untweaked.

Or, for future reference, any specialized should I can ask?