Moving all your important files from Windows XP to your new computer may sound like just one more hassle. Here are four simple options for transferring your data from Windows XP to a new PC without breaking a sweat. The most straightforward way to transfer your data to a new computer is by manually moving it from one PC to the next using removable physical storage, like a flash drive or external USB hard drive. Just plug your external drive into your old computer, drag your files over, and then plug it into the new computer and drag the files back.
Fortunately, external storage has gotten quite cheap. This can be a convenient way to transfer documents, but be aware that transferring large files such as home movies over a cloud-storage service can take a long time and eat into your monthly broadband cap, if you have one. Beyond that, free cloud services tend to offer small 5GB to 10GB storage limits, which may not be enough storage to handle all the data you want to transfer.
If your XP computer was built anywhere in the last five to seven years, odds are it can run Windows 7. It may not love it, and it may not be the fastest machine on the block, but it'll run, and that'll improve your overall security, get you continued support and updates, and net you updated, currently-supported applications without glaring or unpatched vulnerabilities.
We'd suggest backing up your data and doing a clean install on your machine, mostly because it'll free you from anything left behind from your old operating system. If it's still slow, you could always try to overclock it to eke out a little more speed. Check out out guide to making the most of your netbook too. Sticking to lightweight apps and services will vastly improve your experience, especially if you have to update the OS.
Finally, if you don't want to try updating Windows, and you're still worried about security and support, here's a fast and easy solution: Try installing Linux instead! Distros like Ubuntu and Linux Mint aren't exactly resource hogs, and can run even on lightweight hardware. Plus, as we've established , even if you're not familiar with Linux, both options are great even for beginners. You could also try previously mentioned Lubuntu , a lightweight version of Ubuntu designed for netbooks, if Ubuntu is a little much for you.
There's also Jolicloud , which we've mentioned before , works great on lower-powered systems, and brings a little Chrome OS-style flair to your desktop. Bonus: When you're running Linux or another alternative OS, you don't have to worry about viruses, malware, exploits, or trojans beyond the browser-related stuff we mentioned earlier , of course.
Hopefully that gives you some options and suggestions for what you can do with your old Windows XP laptop, Netbook Lover!
Keep in mind that these aren't specifically netbook-related tips, so any older hardware or old XP machine can benefit from a little TLC if you have one lying around that you don't think is ready for the recycling bin just yet. Good luck, and stay safe! Have a question or suggestion for Ask Lifehacker? The A. About Lifehacker Advisor Lifehacker Store. Disk space was an issue as well. When I first looked at it this notebook it had only 8 GB of free space.
When I was done, the system had roughly 30GB of free disk space and I had shaved a full minute off the startup time, although it still required more than three full minutes from a cold start before you could actually use this thing. It flagged the Toshiba Bluetooth stack as incompatible and alerted me to a couple other hardware components that might need updating, but gave the all-clear:. With that reassurance, I next looked at cost.
There are no other costs associated with this upgrade. At that price, I decided to plunge ahead, stopping only to do two full backups of the current XP image so I could restore things if necessary.
A good OEM yes, they exist will include the right drivers, utilities, and hotfixes for your system to ensure that every feature on it works correctly.
This is especially important on notebooks, where getting webcams, biometric devices, and control buttons working perfectly can be a real challenge on a generic installation. In this case, though, the question is practically moot. The driver model changed dramatically from Windows XP to Windows Vista, and several categories of devices including video drivers changed again, albeit less dramatically, in Windows 7.
For this Sony notebook, a direct upgrade is literally impossible. That leaves me with three options. First of all, that would take a long time. Instead, the upgrade path would require the much more expensive Windows 7 Professional. Instead, I went with the second option, the one recommended by Microsoft: Use Windows Easy Transfer to copy files and settings to an external drive.
Then do a clean install of Windows 7, restore the files and settings using Windows Easy Transfer, and reinstall any necessary programs. As it turns out, this system has less than 1 GB of data files on it, making the task particularly easy. Copying all that data took literally a few minutes. Choosing this option also gave me the freedom to reformat the hard disk and blow away the unnecessary recovery partition.
The full install on a freshly paved hard drive took around 45 minutes, and when I was done this system had more than 48 GB of free disk space. Restoring the data files took another 10 minutes or so. And then it was time for the programs. As it turned out, Lisa really only used a few of the programs on that enormous list that had previously been installed. She has the original program disks for Office , Adobe InDesign CS3, and Dreamweaver, all of which can be installed in an hour or so.
Windows Update found virtually every driver for this machine, including one for the Intel GM. I had to download and install two updates from Sony under the Windows Vista category to enable the flash memory card slot and the Firmware Extension Parser, labeled as unknown devices here.
All told, this strategy took about four hours. I made one other small change as well. After all was said and done, this system was able to start up and get to a workable desktop, with a working internet connection and a web browser fully loaded, in under two minutes flat 35 seconds of that, by the way, is the Sony hardware starting up.
In this case, the upgrade literally cut in half the startup time required by the original XP installation. In operation, the Windows 7 install felt snappier than the XP installation in every program I tried.
The PCmover program has been around for a few years, but it needed a major rewrite for Windows 7. PCmover is designed to do everything that Windows Easy Transfer does, with one crucial addition: it migrates programs as well. Using a network, a transfer cable, or an external storage device, you can migrate your files, programs, and settings from an old PC to a new one.
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