Judging by the level of your computer skills implied by the emails, those involved in Tor have better things to do than help a guy like me.  I think it is important to the entire world that the internet links us together, and Tor may be the most crucial part of that.

I have 3 machines as possible candidates for a Tor relay:

A)  A decent PC (around 6 years old) with Vista installed.  It's been unused for 2 years.  I am willing to do a clean re-install of Vista or even Linux (with help) to run it as a Tor relay, night and day.

B)  A MacBook Pro (4gb ram, Intel, Snow Leopard).  Again, I am willing to wipe it, and do a clean install of the OS and use it for a Tor relay, night and day.

C)  My personal laptop an Asus G74S (12gb ram, i7 quad core 2.2ghz, Win7 Home Premium 64bit), which I "sleep" most nights.

Modem:  DSL from "Telus" (in Victoria, BC, Canada) with 4 ports (I use 1 cable port to my personal computer, 1 wireless port for my iPad or Android cell phone).

Questions:

1)  If I run a Tor relay with that modem, are there any security risks to the other devices?  I am no technical guru.

2)  If I run a Tor relay on either (or both the Vista PC and MacBook) of the computers mentioned above, will it be mostly a "set it and forget it" maintenance?  I cannot devote much time (and definitely don't have much expertise).

3)  Will I compromise the anonimity of Tor users due to my lack of technical skills while running a Tor relay?  I don't want to do more damage than good.

4)  Can I throttle down the bandwidth on my Tor relay(s) when I need it for my own personal machine?  I don't want to disrupt the Tor net.

5)  Can you suggest the best way to use my machine(s) to make a reliable, maintenance free and secure Tor relay, requiring the least amount of time?  I am guessing it's the MacBook cabled to the DSL, running only Tor relay software, and running only a normal relay.

6)  At this point is it worth my while, to attempt a Tor bridge or exit relay or am I even capable of doing it properly?  I have little experience or expertise in networking and not much time.