Video Capture etc

[susanduic]

This question may be better suited for another site altogether but.........



When upgrading to a (newer/better/faster) computer which is the best method of transferring software and applications downloaded to a) to the new one b).......?

(ie things I don't have disks for....)



I'm leaning towards a 3rd hard drive but thinking about it if I can transfer to 3 why not 2)............



If all that makes any sense and anyone is inclined to reply could it be in not too technical language.....I'm an old woman, not a techno-phobe but........

[Steve Crook]

name='susanduic']This question may be better suited for another site altogether but.........



When upgrading to a (newer/better/faster) computer which is the best method of transferring software and applications downloaded to a) to the new one b).......?

(ie things I don't have disks for....)



I'm leaning towards a 3rd hard drive but thinking about it if I can transfer to 3 why not 2)............



If all that makes any sense and anyone is inclined to reply could it be in not too technical language.....I'm an old woman, not a techno-phobe but........

The first question is, are both computers running the same operating system? If they aren't then the applications won't run as well (or at all) on the new system



Steve

[susanduic]

I should expect so but I'm at the planning the purchase stage not the it's on the desk ready to go stage.....so if I'm using XP upgrading to Vista may not be the best for my purposes.....or did you mean Mac v PC?

[Buffalo_Chuck]

Most Windows applications cannot be transferred and run well.



They need a formal Installation (ie, original set up disks or files) so that all of their cooperative files can be installed into any of dozens of important subfolders - both under their Program Files folders, Documents & Settings folders for the user(s), System Registry entries for validation and proper memory allotments, and the various Windows folder structures. Some programs make 600 registry entries - single lines of codes and values - especially when they need to connect to DVD drives for burning, data verification, fonts for displays and printing, accessing device drivers, etc.



And that would be a plain Same Windows Version to another Windows Version. Changing Windows versions (or even levels of the same version) introduces a whole new set of issues.



I'd recommend you consider it a "No Way" option and either find all the original Setup Disks and Files, or ask yourself if you can do without it, or buy new disks.



Even if you could manually enter hundreds or thousands of Registry entries (by knowing which to export and which to import, which to rebuild, etc.), as well as thousands of important files, you might overwrite critical New Version files with older versions. Then you'd have a much larger price to pay in either system performance (or non-performance) for a long, long time.

[Steve Crook]

I'd also suggest you seriously consider if an upgrade to Vista is a good idea.

Read some reports about it. There aren't many positive ones.



They rushed it to market before it was properly ready and it uses a lot more resources (memory, processor and disk) than the advertising suggests. Unless your new machine is a very powerful machine, it'll struggle



Steve

[sippog]

name='Buffalo_Chuck']Most Windows applications cannot be transferred and run well.

Alternately buy a Mac and the next time you need to upgrade, you'll have no problem at all transferring your files . . .