duhh... can I handle this or not?

[darrel]

okay I just got my christmas present and it is a DELL computer and it is all set up to go so it says all I have to do is set it up and plug it in, the windows XP is already put in...most of you know I am a rocket scientist when it comes to these things ...how much trouble am I going to be in trying to get all my info from this computer to the new one? or should I just start all over?

crap I should have written down all my passwords for the different sites I visit.......aaaahhhhhhhhh!!! I think I am going to be in over my head.

[Patonb]

Passwords are a pain if you just use the remember me box. Files are simple with a router.

Wats your setup?

[darrel]

there is the first of many questions I have not a clue to , I hope you are talking in the terms of what is in side..

intel Pentium 4 1.6GHz
memory 128MB
hard drive 20GB
17" monitor M781p
Optiplex GS260

I am looking through the paper work and I would have thought that they would have spent some money in the paper work instead of photo copies

[sjean423]

It depends a bit on what sort of stuff you are worrying about. I usually like to start fresh, there is a lot of old crap that I can just ignore. Do you use quicken or money? Do you have a lot of word files or excel files? What about pictures and music? What do you use for a browser (internet explorer, firefox?)

If there are programs you have downloaded before, it is best to download them new onto this computer. SAme with programs you have installed. Re install them from teh original disks, don;t try to copy any programs from one computer to the other.

What do you use for email? Gmail, and many others keeps you r mail on their server. Nothing to do. If you use Outlook, your old mail files are on your computer.

Most messenger software (aim, msn etc) allow you to "export" your buddy lists. Do you use them?

As far as files (words, music, pictures, etc)

If patonb lost you with his router comment, do you have one of those flash/thumb drives we talked about recently?

If you have word and excel files you want to save, copy your "my documents" folder onto the drive. Plug it into the new computer, and copy that folder onto the new computer. I put mine into a new folder in the NEW my documents titled "backup from old computer". YOu can do the same with pictures, etc.

I know with firefox you can export your bookmarks (favorites). I assume internet explorer does also. LEt us know what browser you are using, someone will talk you through it.

If you use quicken, backup your data to the thumb drive. Install a new version of the software onto your new computer. Then restore the data from the backup. I assume money also allows you to do this.

Once you figure out all those passwords (you might have to use the "I forgot my password") you may want to streamline them. I have 3 basic passwords, depending on where I am. One for most of the low level stuff .... library and such. Another one for more important stuff, that I wouldn;t give out to someone randomly. And a high priority one (bank and credit cards.) The last one is harder to remember, and I change it frequently, but the others are easier ones. (I know, I know and this post isn;t really written by me, but by some nigerian devo who hacked my password. please send money to ........)

Good luck. You can do this.

[darrel]

sjeans, you are too much..LOL... I liked the nigerian devo that is funny..

right now I am using explorer but I am thinking of going with firefox I think it will be quicker. I hope it will be any how, then with this new computer I hope that having more up to date equiptment it should be faster...

I haven't got a flash/thumb drive yet but think I should before I try to switch every thing over..
my main concern is trying to get all my sites that I visit on a regular basis loaded back up...I only have visit CC, apperelyzed, spinalinjury.net, myspace, and facebook..the rest is like map quest and RV sales. I am rather boring when I am on here, I use this mainly for info and then to be on the SCI sites that is it ..yes I know I am boring...I am still trying to figure out the photo thing..need to figure that out because I got Linda a camara dock and I think I will want to set it up to the computer..so that I can get pictures instead of scanning them and trying to get them that way.. I am thinking of getting my niehgbor over and have him help me. he is studying to get his professorship in computers, he knows his sh*t..I never understand what he is saying most of the time. I get him over once in a while and we fix him a real meal and have him figure out my mistakes...it beats having the guy from India (Ahpoo) from Microsoft to screw things up worse than I had it..

[Patonb]

If you can get your neighbour, it'll be way faster then us trying to explain... Like 2 hrs verses 10 days.

[darrel]

If you can get your neighbour, it'll be way faster then us trying to explain... Like 2 hrs verses 10 days.

10 days? you have more faith in me than I do...ha,ha

hey,while you are here can I unhook this computer and move it to another room and not lose anything, I have cable hook up in there so I can hook the modum up. this way I can get the new one set up the way I want it

[sjean423]

Ok.

Yes, you can unplug it and move to another room.

As far as loading on your web sites. Do you know how to paste a link into an email? Like if you wanted to send me an email saiying "hey sj, check out this site?"

Do that on your old computer, sending yourself an email with the links in it. Then on your new computer, read the email, and click on the links. Then you can put them into your favorites on the new computer. You can just write down the addressess and type them in on the new computer as well, especially since there are only a few.

I like firefox as a web browser, but don;t think you should change right now. Get used to the new computer first.

[sjean423]

Yea, the devo hacked into my passwords right about the time I started winning at scrabble, lol!

I think you need to get your neighbor to help with the camera thing. What camera do you have?

It is sounding like you don;t use quicken or money.

Do you have any word documents, excel spread sheets, pictures, or music you want to copy from the old computer to the new computer?

Do you use any type of instant messenger?

And don;t worry, you can go ahead and start using the new one with out taking care of all that right away.

Good luck with it!

S.

ps ..... I am VERY glad you got it with XP and not Vista!!

[darrel]

thanks, I think I will start swapping this out tomorrow, it is late and Linda says wait..she wears the pants any more, I just wear PJ's... ha,ha..

[sjean423]

Passwords are a pain if you just use the remember me box. Files are simple with a router.

Wats your setup?

Looks like he is all set with the router Patonb .....

or it was an attachment for my router that cost as much if not more if you go to www.legacywoodworking.com (http://www.legacywoodworking.com/) they have some sweet set ups to do some wild work with a router.

Sorry, saw the post and couldn;t resist. ... we had a serious "you had to be there" moment at christmas, when my son and hysband were talking cross purposes, about solving the problem with the router.

[darrel]

ha,ha..did I put that one on this thread? crap I thought it was on the other thread.

okay I did put that on the other thread..you had me looking good one..

[sjean423]

It was, I copied it over, since my comment to patonb belonged here. LOL

[darrel]

I had to check it out my self and just saw it..had me wondering ..LOL

[Art454]

Should have got windows vista darrel....I have both...the old xp and new vista....vista blows away xp....and as I have noticed since vista came out my xp is running slower all the time....everytime you do the crictal updates on xp it runs slower.....same thing microsoft did everytime a new os came out....they kill your old one.....when xp came out and about 6 months later 98 would not even run if you did to many crictal updates

Art

[darrel]

I hear ppl down grade vista still, they say the bugs aren't worked out yet, besides I did not pick it out my better half bought it as my X-mas present.
anything has to be better than this old Gateway, it is a pentiumIII with windows 98 with a XP update. for what little I do this new Dell will do fine.

[bob clark]

Hi Darrel,

You can use XP's "Files and Settings Transfer Wizard" for what you want to do. Go to Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. Depending on how much stuff you want to transfer over is the question. If it's under 700MBs then use a CD-R, if it under 4GBs (?) you can use a DVD.

OR:

Direct cable. You don't see much of these any more, but in the early days of Windows 95, there were a number of serial cable-based pseudo-networks floating around. These days, it's more likely that people will use a single Ethernet crossover cable to connect two PCs through their network ports, however.


As has already been written, you want to first install your programs fresh on the new computer, as they won't/can't be transferred over.

Here's a Step by Step tutorial (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457074.aspx).... it's easier than it looks. They always say that! :) So here's probably a better Step by Step tutorial... by Paul Thurrott (http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_fstw.asp).

What Gets Migrated (Transferred) ?
This section summarizes the types of files and settings that are migrated.

Migrated Settings
The settings fall into four major groups:

Appearance. This includes items such as wallpaper, colors, sounds, and the location of the taskbar.

Action. This includes items such as the key repeat rate, whether double-clicking a folder opens it in a new window or the same window, and whether you need to double-click or single-click an item to open it.

Internet. These are the settings that let you connect to the Internet and control how your browser operates. This includes items such as your home page URL, favorites or bookmarks, cookies, security settings, dial-up connections, and proxy settings.

Mail. This includes the information you need to connect to your mail server, your signature file, views, mail rules, local mail, and contacts. The mail clients supported are Outlook® and Outlook Express.

Application settings

The wizard currently supports migrating specific application settings including Microsoft Office (Access, Excel, Outlook®, PowerPoint®, and Word). Support for migrating additional applications will be included when Windows XP is released.

Note that only applications settings are migrated; actual applications are not migrated. You will need to re-install applications on your new computer.

Summary of migrated settings

Migrated setting groups include:

Internet Explorer settings

Outlook Express settings and store

Outlook settings and store

Dial-Up connections

Phone and modem options

Accessibility

Screen saver selection

Fonts

Folder options

Taskbar settings

Mouse and keyboard settings

Sounds settings

Regional options

Office settings

Network drives and printers

Desktop folder

My Documents folder

My Pictures folder

Favorites folder

Cookies folder

Common Office file types



And other stuff as well.

Have fun. :)

Bob.

[spinky88]

well, i am useless as far as being able to help you transfer your info from one computer to the other. thankfully my husband is an IT tech and can fix all the stuff i screw up! lol one idea i do have for you that may or may not be an option is a great little thing i found. i have a lot of trouble remembering all of my passwords too!. i was browsing ebay one day and found this thing called a fingerprint reader. i bought it for my hubby for his birthday because i had never heard of one. you plug it into your pc and go to a fav website, put in your password and follow the instructions that pop up; and from that point on, all you have to do is lay your finger on the little unit and you never have to type in a password again. of course, it is good to have those passwords written down somewhere just in case you need to change it or something. whether this is an option for you or not would depend on how much function you have in your hands. if you have enough function to be able to lay a finger on the little unit then you would be ok with it. since i am a newbie, i dont know folks levels of function yet, so please dont be offended if i offered this and it doesnt apply to your situation. i would never purposely do a thing like that, but i did think that now while you are changing everything, if this is an option it might be a real help to you from here on.

hubby did know about these little wonders but didnt have one so he really loves it. matter of fact, after he got that he bought another one and put it on his pc at his office. if i remember correctly, they also make a keyboard that has one already on it. the little unit was around 20. on ebay. i hope you get everything switched over with no major problems. if i had to do something like that, i would be as lost as trying to speak a foreign language! i am technologically impaired! lol best of luck!

[darrel]

thanks Bob,
I think I am going to transfer this comp. to the front bedroom and get it hooked back up and then set the new one up out here (living room). I only have one modum and I think that I will hook it back up to this comp. for the time being till I get the nieghbor over tonight hope fully, this way it is all set up for him for the most part..he starts talking computers and I am totally lost..I can't help but have that blank look on my face and then all the words start sounding like the Adults do on Charlie Brown..LOL..I know it sounds terrible but I have not done to much with computers till the last few months, yes I have had this one, but it was my mothers and I inherited it several years ago and I just used it as a nintindo..strictly for games and never bothered to get internet..never felt that I needed it. okay I am starting to ramble.....thanks again I may try this after I get every thing switched over..

[darrel]

spinky, hey you are not alone..matter of fact you seem to know more about computers than me, I have never heard of finger print sign in thingy-ma-bob.. :)
I think that I will just write the pass words down and tape it to the side of the comp.I only have a couple and they are not to hard to remember..and I do not keep my personal info on here for fear of hackers... my banking needs are done direct deposit and automatic withdrawl..and checks, very rarely cash and defanatly no credit cards. I like the idea of that though..it sounds rather James Bondish..lol

[duge]

Darrel I'll bet your going to love it! I bought my Dell in 03 yes really outdated now but have not had hardly any trouble with it. I still love it! I put a extra gig of memory in it a couple years ago myself. that's all I've ever done to it.

[darrel]

hey Duge,
I hope your right, and I am already thinking of more memory..this comp that I am on now has programs on it that are rather worthless to me but I can't get them off I will have the nieghbor clean it all up that way linda can have it an she won't feel that she is invading my space.. I am always willing to let her have it when she wants..but she has her feelings so I let her do what ever..that is probly why we get along so well.
well she finally got her craft room ready for the transfer..if you don't see anything of me for a while feel lucky..feel very lucky..ha,ha

[darrel]

This thing is freakin' fast!!!

I LIKE IT!!!

[darrel]

NO I AM NOT SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER!!

but I did get this computer set up, thanks to my nieghbor.. now you guys have to put up with me again...LOL....

[ala]

I found this picture of the "neighbor" helping Darrel setup his computer.

http://www.dozer.pannell.com/cyberdozer.jpg

[darrel]

LOL.. thats a good one..that dog could probably work the computer better than me..

[spinky88]

glad you got it up and running with no real headaches! amazing how much difference a year or two can make in computers! enjoy!!!!!

hey that neighbor of yours i see in the pic...he works for microsoft doesnt he?????

[rollin64]

i'd send it back an keep the clunker. :D

[darrel]

ha, your just jealous !

[sjean423]

Here you go Darrel .......



http://icanhascheezburger.wordpress.com/files/2007/10/128341900625156250heerihelps.jpg

[darrel]

hey, I have a cockateil that thinks he has to help out some times or he just gets up on my shoulder and attacks my ear or drops a load down my neck..