grichie5

I had ordered a new computer from Dell which arrived a week ago. It was not too difficult to install all of my desired programs.

Many recent programs arrived by way of a download. I had saved these downloaded files and I copied each of them to a new folder on an external drive. Most of the major programs were available for redownload from the publishers website. This is true of Acronis, Quicken and Office 2019. Adobe is easily downloaded as well from the Adobe web site. Then, I clicked on each of the downloaded files that I had saved and the installer file opened immediately.

Surprisingly, you can reach a Microsoft download page once you sign into your Microsoft account. Then You enter the serial number of your program and a download opportunity appears.

I did have the disk for a few programs like Malware bytes and CCleaner.

A call to Canon support brought on a representative who guided me through the whole process of installing each of my three printers. Took a while but was a pleasant experience. I could have done this from the original disks, but was assured by having the help.

The whole process didn't take more than about three hours.


Good luck and enjoy. My new computer is a blessing.

Grichie

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Installing your programs from scratch is a good way to take stock of what you have and decide if you NEED everything that was on the old computer. It also ensures that everything is fresh and clean. Same for data....maybe you don't still need everything you have on the old machine.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

I used Laplink a few years ago. Overall it was a disaster. It did move my settings to the new computer. I still needed to reinstall almost all of my software one program at a time. Moving my documents, photos and videos was also done manually. I can safely that using laplink was a waste of time. Of you have well organized directories you can move stuff faster without laplink.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

I back up regularly. The earth wouldn't end if I lost all my files but I'd be rather sad.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I think it is best to install programs on to a new system Drive. Copying programs from drive to drive can carry over problems. If you have them in original form say compressed in a different folder or volume simple copy or move might be fine. Your license from Adobe and Microsoft allows you to transfer programs once you deactivate your account on the old machine.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Three Canon Printers. Wild! I have two; PIXMA PRO-9000 and PIXMA PRO-100.

11bravo

1. Have used Belarc Advisor for a decade+. Great program.

2. Ninite (ninite.com) provides a check list of common programs to install. Check the ones you use, and it handles the downloads and installs (ie fresh installs). Free.

3. Some "nice" software will allow a new installation if you uninstall from the old computer first. When I totalled my old notebook, couldn't boot, explaining the situation to companies, some were kind enough to deactivate the license on their server for me.

4. I use Macrium reflect for backups. I like it so much, have the multi license pack, but free version works great for an image. TeraCopy (free version) for verified file copies.

5. Two other programs I have on every computer:
A. Hard Disk Sentinel for (mainly) disk temperature monitoring along with health. Audible alarms, even auto shutdown on over temps. Paid, license packs available.
B. StableBit scanner for disk health monitoring. Can set periodic scans. Paid.

Bit of overlap on these two, but they work for me. Both are well maintained and responsive to questions.

Good luck. Myself, I prefer manual.

I'd recommend doing a full image of your NEW computer in it's pristine state. Then, if any misfortune happens on the move, easy to return to "start".

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

After all this advice, I'm waffling toward using Laplink PCMover Pro. Here's a video with instructions how to install and use it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhSOuYX-Wzc
(Warning the video is really long and boring until you get to where they actually run the software - it has very detailed instructions for a complete novice including accessing and purchasing the software online, then through the usual install screens before finally getting to the software in use. So scroll through the video until about the 8:00 point.)
You can use it in stages to transfer and try programs a little at a time, like Adobe or Office. This guy's Adobe Photoshop worked fine, but his Office required him to log in first, which is what I would expect from my Adobe. I have Office 2013 that I am going to attempt to transfer since I don't use it that often and I'd rather not pay for a new subscription.
I am not so naive as to expect the whole transfer to be seamless, but I like the try and buy option to use it only to transfer some programs. My current PC isn't that loaded with a lot of extra programs anyway, unlike the one before it that I loaded all sorts of programs on that I had to uninstall before I copied any over.
For data files I'd just as soon transfer those as a separate step after program transfer and/or install. I need to clean up my files anyway, as well as the folder structure, and I have about 10 days before my new computer comes and I can spend these hot days inside doing just that.

BebuLamar

Interesting! My IT department said they can't do that. So every time I got new computer I have to spent almost a month to reinstall my software. Besides many of the software I use for work is heavily copy protected so you have to get in touch in the software makers to reauthorize the new installation.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

Well, I don't have that much software installed anyway, and I'm going through what I do have to undo some of it that I don't use, like old versions of current programs that I kept just in case.

If I come back and post all the problems I had with Laplink, feel free to tell me "I told you so." Actually, I plan to post an update on how it went, and don't feel like I have a right to whine if I have problems with it.

BebuLamar

If you are going to reinstall the software then you don't need laplink. You are replacing a desktop and you can simply install the old hard drive as the second drive on the new computer and copy the files using Windows explorer. It's the fastest way any way as the SATA is faster than if you use laplink and connect the 2 computers via USB or Ethernet.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

Actually it's a laptop to desktop with dual drives so I don't know if that makes a difference. I want to keep my laptop for browsing and other stuff, not cannibalize it for my new tower. And the tower will be my work computer, away from non-productive distractions so I can "go to my office", a new tool for my photography and other serious uses.

I'm not too worried about the documents and picture files. It's easy to use my external drive for straight copying, so I won't have to redo my folder structures. Lord knows, with all the computer moves I've made I'm an expert at copying and pasting files!

Looking forward to having a faster computer and bigger monitor!

11bravo

I will reiterate (once burnt, twice shy) about using TeraCopy rather than windows copy. I like the visual comfort of having it do a checksum for each file copied (turn verify on), that it won't hang on a problem, it'll just log any errors and continue. I do only copy 50 gbs at a time, but easily segmented by copying subfolders, batch at a time. I've used it for over a decade after I "windows copied" photos from a hdd to a flash drive for a slideshow, and only 1/2 the photos made it. Didn't lose anything, just a bit embarrassed.

BebuLamar

When I said remove the hard drive from old computer and install in new I don't mean to do it permanently. After you transfer the file put the hard drive back to the old computer. I do that because the SATA or even IDE is faster than other connection like USB or ethernet.