Old-to-new PC transfer software

My new computer will arrive in a few weeks, and I will install the same
version of Windows on it that I am using now: Windows XP. I have excellent
backups of the old computer, using Retrospect 7.5.

Nevertheless, I am dreading the process of installing all of my Windows
applications, customizing settings, etc. I don't expect that my backup
software will be able to handle all of this for me, because the two
machines involved are very different, hardware wise.

I will try various weasely tricks using my Backup software, but
realistically, I don't think that I can avoid reinstalling all my
programs. On the other hand, I have seen several pieces of commercial
software that promise to ease the pain, such as "Aloha Bob." Any opinions
on which piece is the best?
--
David Arnstein (00)
{{ }}
^^

"David Arnstein" wrote in message
...
My new computer will arrive in a few weeks, and I will install the same
version of Windows on it that I am using now: Windows XP. I have excellent
backups of the old computer, using Retrospect 7.5.

Nevertheless, I am dreading the process of installing all of my Windows
applications, customizing settings, etc. I don't expect that my backup
software will be able to handle all of this for me, because the two
machines involved are very different, hardware wise.

I will try various weasely tricks using my Backup software, but
realistically, I don't think that I can avoid reinstalling all my
programs. On the other hand, I have seen several pieces of commercial
software that promise to ease the pain, such as "Aloha Bob." Any opinions
on which piece is the best?
--
David Arnstein (00)
{{ }}
^^

You really want to reinstall. It is the only way for your new machine to be
clean. Some software (for example Photoshop) will configure itself
differently as your new machine will have multiple CPUs.

As bad as the Windows registry and DLL hell is, don't bring old problems
with you.

"David Arnstein" wrote in message ...

[] I have seen several pieces of commercial
software that promise to ease the pain, such as "Aloha Bob." Any opinions
on which piece is the best?

I've never used one. If I had and ran into no troubles I'd be somewhat less
apprehensive about using one [again], but not totally. The problem is, apps
store settings all over the place... in standard places and non-standard places,
and where/what is stored is often a function of what app version you are
running, whether related products/extensions from the same manufacturer
are installed, whether the app was clean installed or upgraded, etc. I'm
inherently apprehensive about third party migration tool developers trying to
reverse engineer solutions. It is the application developers that know where
things are stored and it is their responsibility to provide the tools/instructions.

Most apps are simple enough that manually configuring a new install isn't
too bad, and if you look at it as an opportunity to refresh your memory and
to make sure everything is at it is should be, it shouldn't be a horrible chore.
For the more sophisticated apps with rich per-user and/or per-install settings
and what have you, I'd start by pinging the developer's support site/forums to
see what if anything they have to help you or at least what utilities are
considered thorough/safe.

Use the Windows XP built-in file & settings transfer wizard to move your
SETTINGS ONLY. [Note that office has it's own, but separate, settings
transfer wizard]. But reinstall the applications manually (very time
consuming, sorry), and move data files manually using a networked
connection (actually pretty quick and easy). You have to reinstall the
applications BEFORE you move the settings.

Any other approach, in my experience, won't work well to the point that
you will probably just start over with a total reinstall (of Windows and
the applications) in 4 to 12 weeks.


David Arnstein wrote:
My new computer will arrive in a few weeks, and I will install the same
version of Windows on it that I am using now: Windows XP. I have excellent
backups of the old computer, using Retrospect 7.5.

Nevertheless, I am dreading the process of installing all of my Windows
applications, customizing settings, etc. I don't expect that my backup
software will be able to handle all of this for me, because the two
machines involved are very different, hardware wise.

I will try various weasely tricks using my Backup software, but
realistically, I don't think that I can avoid reinstalling all my
programs. On the other hand, I have seen several pieces of commercial
software that promise to ease the pain, such as "Aloha Bob." Any opinions
on which piece is the best?

On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 00:16:09 +0000 (UTC), (David
Arnstein) wrote:

I have seen several pieces of commercial
software that promise to ease the pain, such as "Aloha Bob." Any opinions
on which piece is the best?

I always just reinstall. I've found it to be easy, because I've done
it so much! Most of my installs are on a hard drive, so for a lot of
them I reinstall as I need them.

Usually the install goes something like this:

- Install the OS fresh, get drivers from Dell's site and install
(Dell makes it easy).
- Install Acrobat professional
- Install NoteTab, and associate .nfo's to it
- Install Office and related MS programs (Visio, Project..)
- Install Agent newsreader
- Install Treesize Pro
- Install Mind Manager (www.mindjet.com)
- Install Info Select (www.miclog.com)
- Import favorites into Firefox
- Copy Outlook .pst file to the right location
- Install Palm apps -- Daynotez, Bonsai, Splash ID, etc.

(This would probably be a good point to do an image copy, but I don't
know how to do that, and it seems that there were so many gotchas in
the software I looked at a year ago that I didn't trust it. I think
for the next refresh of my OS I will do a "disaster recovery" test)

And take it from there. It seems like a long process, but it doesn't
take much time at all. I keep all reg keys either in the folder where
the install is, or in Splash ID, which is an excellent program to
store ID's, passwords, credit card info, etc.

On a new computer I like to start fresh, because it's not bogged down
by too many processes or installs / uninstalls of trial software or of
software I purchased but don't use (too much $...).

Right now my desktop is at the point where it's hopeless so I am
having fun trying out software because I know I will do a refresh
soon. I am running 98 processes, however I multitask a lot and push
my computer to its limits (and it generally handles it well -- P4 3.2
Ghz ht, 2.5G RAM). I do have to keep an eye on running processes and
manually terminate them at time.

Processes so that programs can launch faster irritate me. I see a
process "PhotoshopElementsFileAgent.exe" for example. Adobe,
Microsoft, Quicktime, and a lot of other programs have processes
running when I don't use them.