While Fedora somewhat recently made system upgrades possible through the GUI, it didn’t work when I gave it a go. But I’ve been a Fedora user since Fedora 32, so I tend to prefer the terminal anyhow. Here are the terminal commands to upgrade your system if the GUI acts up for you:

• sudo dnf update --refresh
(Reboot if drivers are updated!)

• sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

• sudo dnf install dnf-plugin-system-upgrade

• sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=44
(Adding " --allowerasing" to the end if you get errors fixes nearly all issues in my experience. Just be sure whatever it remvoes is something you can do without.)

• sudo dnf system-upgrade reboot

After the reboot/upgrade run:
• sudo dnf clean packages

Well ya, you need at least two NICs to properly setup a firewall. Additionally, since NICs are the most crucial piece of hardware for routers and firewalls, it’ll only be as good as the hardware it runs on. Older NICs lead to regular crashes and/or slow network speeds. So swapping the original NIC out and adding another is VERY typical when repurposing old PCs as a router. The most common options for NICs I’ve seen are the Intel I350-T2 and I350-T4. Ironically, they cost about as much as a decent router, but going this route actually puts you in control of your home network!

Yep, but unfortunately it’s not always as straight forward as it may sound. Plus, with routers becoming more difficult to acquire, it’ll only get harder and harder to pull off. But there’s OpenWRT and dd-WRT that work with a pretty decent range of routers as well as ASUS Merlin for many ASUS routers. Then, if you want to get nerdy with it and build your own router from an old computer, there’s OPNsense and pfSense. Eventually it’ll come down to these two if the ban is longterm and you want any semblance of obfuscation online…