> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:46:31 -0700
> From: "David C." <cavanadd@verizon.net>
>
> It's about time to upgrade to a new computer. My old desktop is about 5
> years old and only has 1/2 gig of ram and a 60 gig HDD, although I
> haven't even used half of it. I'm going to get a low end desktop box
> because my home computing needs are pretty modest, mostly web surfing
> and a the occasional word processing, spreadsheet or PP application.
> I'm not doing video editing or gaming, so I don't need a high end machine.
>
> A few of the on line retailers still sell XP machines for a couple
> hundred bucks, less monitor. However, the local Fry's has a weekend
> special on an E Machines PC with everything I need for $249 (after the
> inevitable rebate), with Vista.
Dave
I was in the same boat, with a 10 year old machine and about the
same needs as you. I looked long and hard at all the sub $300 deals
out there and all were lacking somewhere.
I ended up at Fry's looking at yet another $299 system, light on RAm
and short on features. But they had another unadvertised special - an
HP with 4 gb, 650 gb HD, and a fast processor for $399. Works fine,
runs Vista fine, but I'd still rather have XP
> A couple of questions. I have everything on my current computer backed
> up on a 500 gig Maxtor USB external hard drive. If I get a Vista
> machine, can I plug the Maxtor in and drag and drop the My Documents and
> the Program Files folders (or at least the sub folders in Program
> Files that have the apps I normally use, like Office, etc) into the new
> Vista C drive?
That is exactly what I did
> The other question is security. I run current Norton on my desktop
> machine and I'm pretty sure it's clean, but you never know what kind of
> sneaky malware is hiding on your machine. If I pull files and
> applications off my Maxtor drive, am I taking a chance that unwanted
> malicious files could also hitchhike?
I use Avast AV software, works great, and it's free. Doesn't take over
your machine like Norton does.
The alternative would be to load
> the apps on the new machine manually, but for some, like Office, I no
> longer have the disks. (I do have a DVD for Office 2007; tried it;
> hated it.)
As others have said. apps don't transfer, least of all Office.
Download OpenOffice from Sun. Works great, does all the same things in
about the same way, and it's free.
Rex B, back after a long absence from this group
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