Moving to a new computer

Bowlie · Post by **Bowlie** » 04 Dec 2011, 18:37

A good friend has asked me to help ( I.e. do it) her set up her brand new laptop, a mid level Acer. At the moment her PC is at least six years old, runs windows and she has outlook as her email client. It is doubtful that anything has ever been upgraded on her machine. I know what to do to move her documents and pictures (planning on using a USB key to copy), but I'm not so certain about moving her email history from one to the other.

Few questions,
1. If the email client she gets with the new PC is not outlook, should I convince her to buy office? If not, is it fairly straightforward to move the files? As I recall outlook keeps all its data in a single file, is it as simple as copying this file from one machine to the other?
2. Is there a simpler way of copying files? Can I connect the two with Ethernet, USB or other cable.
3. Any suggestions on how to prep a new laptop? I'm planning on deleting all the free/shareware that she will never use, but other tips would be helpful!
4. She will need virus checker. What free stuff do you recommend for a very limited surfer.

Lady in question is retired and living on a fixed income, so am trying to do this as cheaply as possible.

Edited to add. I am a Mac OS guy, and the last PC that I used was Win XP. Sorry if I sound a touch naiv!

Thaks for any suggestions or points to other threads, I did do a search but didn't get very far.

John Gray · Post by **John Gray** » 04 Dec 2011, 18:53

A few comments:

You haven't said what the new operating system is - I presume Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit?).
Nor what version of Office she has on her old PC. Unless the version of Office she had on the old PC is a full retail one, you can't move it to the new laptop, and it will cost hundreds of currency units to buy Office 2010 for the new laptop.
Does she really need to keep her old emails? And would she be happy with webmail, such as a Gmail account?
What parts of Office does she actually use? I might suggest you download and install LibreOffice, which is free.
There are a few decent free antivirus programs, Microsoft Security Essentials being quite good (yes, surprise!) and not very naggy.

As always, there are more questions than answers...!

(By the way, my commiserations about being infested with MacOS!)

Bigaldoc · Post by **Bigaldoc** » 04 Dec 2011, 19:02

Bowlie wrote:1. If the email client she gets with the new PC is not outlook, should I convince her to buy office?

4. She will need virus checker. What free stuff do you recommend for a very limited surfer.

As for #1, I bought a standalone copy of Outlook 2010 for a LOT LESS $$$ than the full Outlook. So, if she wants to continue using it for email, that's what I'd recommend. THEN, it should be easy to copy the .PST file from old to new.

I second the recommendation for Libre Office.

About #4, I've been VERY SATISFIED ever since I switched to the plain ol' Windows firewall AND Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) for virus and spyware.

Sorry, I don't know about the "temporary networking" ideas these days. Haven't done that for too many years.

Post by **HansV** » 04 Dec 2011, 19:30

In addition to what the others wrote: if the lady only needs a mail client, not other Office applications, she could use Microsoft's free email client Windows Live Mail 2011, or Mozilla Thunderbird.
For Windows Live Mail, the e-mail messages have to be exported from Outlook to Outlook Express on the old PC; they can then be transferred and imported into Windows Live Mail.
Thunderbird can import directly from an Outlook .pst file.

Bowlie · Post by **Bowlie** » 04 Dec 2011, 20:11

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

I'm guessing Windows 7 home too, but wont know until I open the box. She couldn't tell me what version she has on the old box.

She says that the new PC comes with lots of software which might include office and/or outlook. I won't know until I power it up. They had to do a special install since she wanted everything in English, this may limit what else they installed.

My own fault, I should have insisted she get a Mac, but that would have cost more.

John Gray · Post by **John Gray** » 04 Dec 2011, 20:14

Bowlie wrote:She says that the new PC comes with lots of software which might include office and/or outlook. I won't know until I power it up.

If it includes Office or Outlook, it will only be a time- or use-limited version, which is worse than useless. Microsoft aims to make $lots out of Office sales...

jonwallace · Post by **jonwallace** » 05 Dec 2011, 00:34

As for "tidying up" ([rant] a new computer shouldn't need tidying up for goodness sake!! [/rant]), I've had success with http://pcdecrapifier.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .

viking33 · Post by **viking33** » 05 Dec 2011, 00:55

jonwallace wrote:As for "tidying up" ([rant] a new computer shouldn't need tidying up for goodness sake!! [/rant]), I've had success with http://pcdecrapifier.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .

Heartily agree but the OEMs just load up a pile of junk. They should all supply a barebones copy of the OS and give the option to just format the other stuff off the HD and let the user start with a plain vanilla system, if they desire.

Bowlie · Post by **Bowlie** » 05 Dec 2011, 09:07

viking33 wrote:
jonwallace wrote:As for "tidying up" ([rant] a new computer shouldn't need tidying up for goodness sake!! [/rant]), I've had success with http://pcdecrapifier.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .
Heartily agree but the OEMs just load up a pile of junk. They should all supply a barebones copy of the OS and give the option to just format the other stuff off the HD and let the user start with a plain vanilla system, if they desire.

What? You don't mean like a Mac, do you!

viking33 · Post by **viking33** » 05 Dec 2011, 18:42

Bowlie wrote:
viking33 wrote:
jonwallace wrote:As for "tidying up" ([rant] a new computer shouldn't need tidying up for goodness sake!! [/rant]), I've had success with http://pcdecrapifier.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .
Heartily agree but the OEMs just load up a pile of junk. They should all supply a barebones copy of the OS and give the option to just format the other stuff off the HD and let the user start with a plain vanilla system, if they desire.
What? You don't mean like a Mac, do you!

I didn't mean THAT plain.

Bowlie · Post by **Bowlie** » 06 Dec 2011, 09:16

One last question .... I hope.

What about free backup software? Online of Offline. For Online I see quite a few services where you get 2GB free and then begin to pay for more. I know she's got hundreds of photos so 2GB probably isn't going to be enough. I was also thinking of buying a fairly inexpensive (250-500GB) external drive. Most times she will have the laptop on a desktop, so she will have to remember to keep it plugged in when at home but thinking for her needs this is probably a better solution.

Thanks

Post by **HansV** » 06 Dec 2011, 09:28

Windows Live SkyDrive (https://skydrive.live.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) offers 25 GB of free web storage.

Bowlie · Post by **Bowlie** » 06 Dec 2011, 10:26

Thanks Hans, wish me luck ...

stuck · Post by **stuck** » 06 Dec 2011, 14:41

One more idea on moving mail from one system to another. Take a good look at:
http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home.aspx
It is

and is easy to use. It helped me out big time a while back.

Ken

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