System Transfer

[Wheelbrace]

I wish to bin my slower than slow laptop and move on to a more powerful machine.
Can somebody please advise me on the following.

(1) I do not wish to pay my dealer �40 to transfer everything to the new machine.
What is the easiest way to do it myself?

(2) The new machine will have Vista - will this affect the transfer from my old XP

(3) Will I have to reinstall Hardware and my Norton seperately?

Help would be much appreciated.

[rojash]

Assuming that you have a router, connect both machines to it. Ensure that they are both members of the same work group.
Create a shared folder on the old machine and ensure that you can access it from Vista (ideally use the same login name and password on both machines)
On the old machine, click Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Files and settings transfer wizard.
Save the result in the shared folder.
On the Vista machine use the same program to import the files and settings from the shared folder on the XP machine.
This will copy all your essential stuf (like e-mail, documents etc.)
Any other data you have you can manually copy across (by sharing the appropriate folder)

By Hardware, I assume that you mean peripherals such as printers, etc. You will need to download the Vista drivers for each one from the manufacturer's web site and install to the Vista machine.

You will need to install you antivirus software separately, but why not take the opportunity to bin the totally cr@ppy Norton, and replace it with something better like Avast.

[rojash]

Forgot to mention that you will need to manually install all your additional software, such as Office (if you have it).

[ACtheTROLL]

or then again you could use this

http://www.laplink.com/pcmover/

files AND progs

[Ethel]

That's �37 for a once only transfer. :(

[Wheelbrace]

Thank you all - very helpful.

[ACtheTROLL]

still under the �40 budget ;-)
but I know what you mean .... however it's simple to use, it does work on most progs - (it depends if all the prog discs are available or not - and if wheel can do the job manually) - if not ... for a novice it's a soft option...

I'd go with rojash (as I'm sure you would) - but for an inexperiencd miser (;-) who possibly7 has no discs - i'll stick [no offence wheel]

(actually - buy 36.95!! (every penny counts!!) download 29.95)