Any idea how to switch from an old PC to a new one?

[Denti]

It has been about five years since i last switched PCs and the memories are quite unpleasant, especially compared to my apple notebooks.

Is there any "easy" way to transfer my data, programs and settings from my old PC (already running W10) to my brand new one? Or do i have to copy everything manually? There is too much data to back it all up on my 2TB timecapsule, although most of it is probably programs (games) and itunes data which probably can be downloaded again.

Easy would mean something like the apple migration thingy that makes setting up a new one from an old one a one or two click affair.

[Ancient Observer]

Last time I did it I used Windows Easy transfer. Google it. Worked fine for me.

I seem to remember that I had to buy a special cable. Cheap from the Brazilian river.

[Heathrow Harry]

I Use Laplink/PC Mover - costs but very easy to use

[MG23]

Are those Steam games? When I bought my new Windows PC, I just installed Steam, copied over the old Steam folder to the new PC, then let it fix up any problems itself. It auto-installed any relevant odds and ends (e.g. DirectX updates) the first time I ran each game.

That and 'My Documents' accounted for about 90% of the stuff I had on the old machine.

Non-Steam games dump a lot of stuff in the registry and install DLLs in random places, so that usually doesn't work.

[Saab Dastard]

You can run the Windows 10 Easy Transfer wizard tool Transferring files and settings from another computer - Windows Help (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/transfer-files-settings-from-another-computer#1TC=windows-7), that should go some way to addressing your problem.

Any applications will need to be installed onto your new PC (and suitably licensed if you are keeping your old one) - if you do this first, you may be able to transfer settings via the wizard above.

Simplest way to move your data over is to have both PCs on the network together, or failing that, take the HDD out of the old one and mount it in a USB caddy and attach it to the new.

SD

[Capn Bloggs]

itunes is fairly easy to move; there are guides about, but it basically involves just copying the itunes folder to the new machine.

https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204318

[Denti]

Thanks for your pointers. Ended up using the laplink software and it worked pretty well, applications, data and documents were moved and worked right away as well. Sad that one has to buy an application for that though, apple provides the same stuff for free with its OS.

[Warmtoast]

Denti

Microsoft have teamed up with Laplink to provide a free tool (PCmover Express) to transfer your data to a new Windows 10 computer.

See here for details:
Windows Easy Transfer is not available in Windows 10 - Windows Help - (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/windows-easy-transfer-is-not-available-in-windows-10)