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Dear PC Doctor:
I am finally replacing my old, slow Windows XP machine with a new one. Since I have all my old photos (many never printed), Word files, and more, on that old computer, what do I do? I’d like to be able to look at them. Some are related to our home business and I need them every week. Can I bring them over to the new computer? How?
Signed, Jenn
Dear Jenn:
Yes! You can, fairly easily, bring them all over to your new computer. You didn’t say whether you bought a Windows 7 or 8 machine but, if you have the same suite of programs (Microsoft Office), your new computer will be able to open and work with your older files.
First, set aside a little time. Buy a flash drive (or several if you don’t know how big your files are or how many you want to transfer over). Put a flash drive into one of your XP computer’s USB ports. After a moment or so, you will get a pop-up window telling you your new hardware (the flash drive) is ready to use. You can open each file you want to bring to your computer and choose ”Save As” from the File menu. When the next window asks you to choose where to save it, save it on your flash drive. You may need to select “Desktop,” then “My Computer” before you see the flash drive as a choice. Once all the files you want to save are on the flash drive, quit all programs before ejecting the flash drive.
Another method is to open “My Computer.” On the left you will see the contents of your desktop and on the right you will see icons for your hard drive and your flash drive. You can just drag and drop the files from your desktop to your flash drive. They will stay on your old computer. A copy will be made for your flash drive.
When you are finished copying files over to your flash drive, right–click on the flash drive and choose “eject.” Wait until you receive the message that it is “Safe to remove Hardware” before pulling the flash drive out of the USB port.
To bring the files to your new computer, plug the flash drive into a USB port on the new computer. When it appears on your screen, open the flash drive by double-clicking. To transfer the files to your new computer, drag and drop them to your desktop. A copy will stay on your flash drive, leaving you with a handy back up of your important work.
Until next time… Happy Computing!
PC Doctor
Posted: to Athol Library News on Thu, Dec 11, 2014
Updated: Thu, Dec 11, 2014
