Bite the bullet - i need to buy a new computer

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Copy the files to a CD and load them in the new machine. Sounds like you don't back up your files.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Copy the files to a CD and load them in the new machine. Sounds like you don't back up your files.

That is exactly the opposite advice my other advisors have been giving me, just today, and exactly why I am not rushing into it.

When different folks give different, opposite advice, someone has to be wrong.

I have googled it and that has not been very helpful. One site talked about WIN XP Transfer Wizard. I have read about flashcards, direct cable connections, etc. Things sound pretty simple from XP to Vista or WIN 7, but almost nothing about WIN 95, except that the WIN XP Transfer Wizard works with 95 on.

Do you suggest doing files individually or big chunks like Works or My Documents, etc. ?

I'm wanting to save stuff like My Documents (Works), AOL Filing Cabinet, not stuff like programs.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

Transferring files using CDs is not a bad way to do it. I have everything I want saved backed up on CDs ( about 40 of them ). All your text documents will easily fit on one CD. Photos may take several depending how many you have. I use Outlook Express for e-mail so I copy it over as well as my Internet Explorer favorites. These can be loaded quite easily.

CDs are cheap. I bought 50 blank CDs at Best Buy for $10.00 which is just 20 cents each.

There is no real downside to using CDs. The big disadvantage vs using a flash drive is capacity.

As I said earlier, networking the 2 computers together and using file sharing is the fastest and easiest method if you know how to do it. Unless you are going to throw the old computer away, having them networked together is not a bad idea.

Regardless, backing up your files to CDs is a good thing to do.

[vacation_family99 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close vacation_family99]

Does your computer have a USB port on it? If so, go out and buy an external hard drive for $80 or less for 500 GB. This will make it easy to copy all of your pictures to this new hard drive. You can then pick your new laptop and hook up the external hard drive to the laptop. The external drive can be used to backup your pictures on a periodic basis as well. (if you can use flash drives, you have a USB port.)

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Yes I have USB port(s). I haven't looked at the back of my tower for awhile, but a couple I believe. I know something's plugged into it/them.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Buy a Mac. I know it's a bigger initial investment, but well worth it in the long run. Two of my friends just lost their PC laptops to a new virus - it was sent to me but I am fine.

Regardless, you should back up your hard drive regularly, or at least once in a while. I use an external drive, it just backs up in the background whenever it's plugged in.

My first Macbook Pro lasted over 5 years. It needed some maintenance now and then, and I could still be using it - but it needed a new battery and power cord and I needed something lighter weight since I commute with it.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

Buy a Mac. I know it's a bigger initial investment, but well worth it in the long run. Two of my friends just lost their PC laptops to a new virus - it was sent to me but I am fine.

Regardless, you should back up your hard drive regularly, or at least once in a while. I use an external drive, it just backs up in the background whenever it's plugged in.

My first Macbook Pro lasted over 5 years. It needed some maintenance now and then, and I could still be using it - but it needed a new battery and power cord and I needed something lighter weight since I commute with it.

I have a Dell laptop that is 7 years old and I have never had any problem at all. I used it very heavily until this last year when I bought another new Dell laptop as an upgrade. The old one still works fine. I have never had a problem with viruses but I have been diligent using anti-virus software etc. I have used BitDefender.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Copy my documents and whatever else will fit on the CD and if needed more CD's. It might be a good idea to look at everything before you save it, as some things may no longer be of any interest. It's a good idea to due this regularly just in case there is a fatal error or malfunction of some kind. Sometimes I transfer files (particularly important often updated ones) between active computers via email (attachments). Since I use 2 computers regularly, it's nice to have the daily used files (and up to date) on both.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I have a Dell laptop that is 7 years old and I have never had any problem at all. I used it very heavily until this last year when I bought another new Dell laptop as an upgrade. The old one still works fine. I have never had a problem with viruses but I have been diligent using anti-virus software etc. I have used BitDefender.

You are lucky. Definitely vital to stay on top of the latest anti-virus software with any PC. With the latest virus that took out my friends' PCs, their IT people admitted that they had been meaning to look into updated anti-virus software but hadn't gotten around to it. In the process I learned that although my Mac is fine, it can still be a carrier for virii - I can receive and open an infected file without incident - but I could potentially forward it to a PC user and it can infect them... I was advised to get a Mac virus sweeper called Clamxav in order to avoid becoming a Typhoid Apple...

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

With a decent, up-to-date anti-virus toolset, a PC can be as safe as anything. You either need to buy it yourself, or make sure that your IT people keep an updated version (mine do).

A Mac is not necessarily safe just by being a Mac---because they are less popular, they are less of a target. But, as they become more popular, that will change. My IT folks provide an anti-virus suite for it, and as of about six months ago have started recommending that people install it.

When different folks give different, opposite advice, someone has to be wrong.

Not necessarily---there is more than one effective way to migrate files from one machine to another. CDs are fine, so is network transfer.

One other way to do it: get an account with a backup subscription service (like Carbonite), back up your win 95 files to it, and then restore them onto the new machine.

[Thirsty Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Thirsty]

Does your computer have a USB port on it? If so, go out and buy an external hard drive for $80 or less for 500 GB. This will make it easy to copy all of your pictures to this new hard drive. You can then pick your new laptop and hook up the external hard drive to the laptop. The external drive can be used to backup your pictures on a periodic basis as well. (if you can use flash drives, you have a USB port.)

I would also recommend using an external HD. Using and external HD is like using a flash drive. Plug it in and away you go. You might have to install software that will come with the external HD. Here are some listed on Best Buy's website

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

My husband has over 5000 photos. for the most part they are not pictures of people but of wildflowers and scenery, but there are wedding pictures, baby, etc. I have put a lot of them on CD's, but my husband can't find the Cd's.
Over a year ago he updated Kodak Picture Maker. Then the whole program stopped working, taking at least ten minutes to download a picture. I had saved a lot of his picutres on CD's. I begged him for 9 months to let me uninstall and reinstall Kodak and he finally let me. then he said not to transfer the photos into it. I have tried copying them from the hard drive, but I can't get it to happen. It says they won't fit on a CD. The flash drive won't work. If i transferred them into Kodak, I could break them into sets and fit them on cds.

I am tremendously busy right now, trying to take care of a lot of things for my aunts, and don't have enough free time to spend the hours on this I need. Thus i keep putting off the new computer. The aunts are moving to assisted living Wed and then things should get better time wise.

I think I am going ahead and moving the pictures to Kodak and then put them on cd's and then delete them from my hard drive.
My husband has no computer skills at all.

I am wondering if I bought the external hard drive if it too would not be recognized by my computer.
At Tony's suggestion, I attempted to download Firefox as an alternative to Internet Explorer, and it would not download.
My computer has 39% of free space.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

B:

Quote:
When different folks give different, opposite advice, someone has to be wrong.

Not necessarily---there is more than one effective way to migrate files from one machine to another. CDs are fine, so is network transfer.
- - - - - -

So, if one person says use a flash drive, only a flash drive, and nothing but a flash drive, and another person says you cannot use a flash drive, they are both right?
- - - - - -

In simple terms I am hearing back em up and stick em in.

Thanks

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

As always, "it depends".

In general either is fine. But, if you buy some new piece of hardware that plugs into the machine, spend some time figuring out whether it will be usable on win95. That's an old enough platform that some new devices probably won't work.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I am wondering if I bought the external hard drive if it too would not be recognized by my computer.
At Tony's suggestion, I attempted to download Firefox as an alternative to Internet Explorer, and it would not download.
My computer has 39% of free space.

Sounds like there are some serious problems. How long since your last defragmentation was run ? Do you have an updated AV program ? Perhaps a good place to start would be to do some clean up and problem solving. Go to:

Windows Live OneCare safety scanner: Free online tool for PC health and safety

Run each of the scans separately on a day when you need little computer time. Some scans take hours to run, the tune up scan will either do a defrag or tell you if you need one. And you do have a good idea about downloading the pictures to CD and deleting some things.