How To Prepare For A New Computer

Buying a new computer can be a bittersweet process...

The good news is that you're getting a new computer! I, myself, love having the latest technology at my fingertips. I get excited whenever the possibility exists that I'm getting a new piece of "tech" gear. Ok...that may just be me. Anyway, you know that your new computer is going to have a sleek new design and, more importantly, increased speed, capability and capacity to boost your computing enjoyment and productivity.

The bad news is that you've spent years storing important data and programs on your old computer. You most likely have a ton of applications (some good and some bad), pictures, music, documents, emails and more. This article will help you prepare to have SOME of that content transferred to your new computer.

Let's start with programs.

This is where you'll be the most disappointed with the process of buying a new computer. If you want ALL of the same programs transferred from your old computer to your new computer, the only way to do this is to have your OLD hard drive "imaged" and then "re-image" your new hard drive with all of your old information. I don't recommend this at all. In effect, all you're really doing is moving ALL of your old junk to NEW hardware. Is that really what you want? You have to consider that getting a new computer is, in reality, a "fresh start". You have a brand new (clean) hard drive and operating system.

Here's a list of steps to take, PRIOR TO GETTING YOUR NEW COMPUTER, if you want to do this the RIGHT way.

1. Download the "Belarc Advisor" from www.belarc.com (or a similar piece of software). This will list all of the software you have on your computer and, in some cases, will also list your "license keys" that you can use to reinstall the software you want to keep. This is a free program.
2. Make a list of the programs that you're SURE you want on your new computer. Most people, myself included, install software and end up not using it. Just because you paid $19.95 for it, doesn't mean you need to keep it.
3. Make sure you either have all of your installation CDs or that you've saved the installation files to a location on your old computer that will be transferred to your new computer. You can create a folder name "Software Installation Files" or something similar. This will keep you from wasting time looking for these files, later.
4. Be sure that the documents you use are not stored in the "application's" installation folder. For example, lets say you have PROGRAM-X installed. We'll say that this is a word processor application. You use it to write letters or to make documents for work. The installation folder is "C:\Program Files\PROGRAM-X". When you create or edit a document with PROGRAM-X, you don't want to save it to that location. You should save it to your "My Documents" folder or another folder that you've created specifically for those documents (somewhere outside of the "Program Files" folder). A common misconception is that you save your PROGRAM-X documents in "PROGRAM-X". This isn't true. PROGRAM-X is just that, a program. You can't save documents to programs, you can only save them to "locations" or, more specifically, folders. The reason for bringing this up is that you won't be transferring your "Program Files" folder to your new computer.
5. Set aside some time to install ONLY the programs you're sure you want to keep, when you get your new computer.

Pictures, Music, Movies And More! (data)

Not enough can be said about preparing to move your old data to your new computer. There are however, three key words to remember. They are ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE!

Start moving your important data to easily recognized folders, NOW! You'll be surprised (and a little shocked) when you see how much data you've accumulated over the years. You need to organize it now. Get rid of the things you don't need and organize the remainder. Create a folder on the hard drive named "STUFF TO TRANSFER". Move everything you want to keep into folders with related names (create a folder for pictures named "PICTURES"). Then move those folders to the "STUFF TO TRANSFER" folder.

Email

If you use a local client (program) to receive, send and store your email messages, such as Outlook or Outlook Express, you'll need a way to transfer all of your email, addresses and settings to your new computer. The easiest way to do this is to buy a copy of "Backup-Email" ($24.95). This program is worth it's weight in gold! Just install this program on your old computer, make a backup of your ENTIRE mail account and save the backup file to the "STUFF TO TRANSFER" folder. Then, on your new computer, install the program, run it, choose RESTORE and choose the backup file located in your "STUFF TO TRANSFER" folder that was moved from your old computer to your new computer. It works FLAWLESSLY. Your entire email account, in Outlook or Outlook Express, will be the same as it was before, including your addresses, email messages, folders, settings and even your Internet Explorer Favorites! It will be the best $25 you've ever spent!

The Transfer

If you've completed the steps, above, and can put the information (folders) on a CD or DVD, you can make the transfer yourself. If you don't have a CD/DVD burner on your old computer, it may be best to have a computer professional transfer the data for you. In most cases the hard drive will be removed from your old computer and connected to your new computer (as a "SLAVE"). Then the data will be transferred to your "MASTER" hard drive on your new computer.

I hope that this article will make the transition, from an old computer to a new computer, a little easier for all.