How do you transfer programs and data from an old PC to a new lap-top?
My problem here is that I plan on buying my mother a new laptop soon to replace her old worn-out desktop PC. But I need to know how to transfer over programs (such as Microsoft Money) with its data to the new laptop. I can probably handle the smaller items like pictures and other random files by using a data-stick. Any help would be much appreciated. Also she is running Windows XP “Home-Edition”, and the new Lap-top will most likely have Vista.
October 14th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
you cant copy programs over because they are tied into the os registry. you either copy all the files from the xp and run xp on new laptop or find the original install/setup files/downloads/cds for each program and install them.
October 14th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Copy all the programs from the old PC to a removable or an external drive.
Then go to Start > Run on the old PC, type regedit and hit enter.
This will open the registry editor. In the registry editor, go to File > Export and save the file somewhere in the removable drive.
On the New laptop, copy all the programs from the removable drive to the same location as they were in the Old PC (e.g. If on the old PC, the location for Microsoft Money was C: Program FilesMicrosoft Microsoft Money, the location should be the same on the New laptop.)
Then go to Start > Run in the New Laptop, click on File > Import, and open the registry file that you saved on the removable drive.