Quantum leap query...Win98 to Win7..please
 

After much soul searching, given my current PC fulfills all my needs...and only because BT sent one of their usual arrogant "customer focused"...letters...I have decided to aquire a new PC and thus Win7....hence a few questions please for those who know about these things.

1. When I connect the modem, will I have to configure the new PC to take the device and if so, what is the simple way to do this ?

2. How can I transfer data ( emails, files, favourites etc ) from the old machine to the new one without it becoming a complex issue...if possible.

3. Can I expect any problems other than becoming familiar with an entirely ( as I understand it ) new operating system.

I make no secret of the fact that, whilst I can use a PC and have some knowledge of tech.terms etc, I am not conversant with an awful lot of the terminology hence no tech.replies would be appreciated please.

Many thanks.

Said operation is due to take place next w/end btw.....after I have sourced the best deals etc and found a device that suits my needs given that I don't download music etc.

Essentially there isn't enough information for anyone to answer your questions (unless they happen to be familiar with your system). Regardless of whether you don't like technical terms I'm afraid there really is no alternative to your telling us more about what you've got and what you're trying to achieve.

Sorry, I don't understand
What do you mean by this?

Your questions:

(1) What modem? (Different setups will have different answers.)

(2) (a) Data files you can just copy using whatever means suits you (floppy, memory stick, network cable, etc etc) (for program files see (3) below). Whether the files are any use or not on the new machine depends on whether you've got an application that can read them (also see (3) below). So, what sorts of files?

(b) Emails you can only transfer if you're moving to a compatible application, so you'll have to tell us what you're using on the two machines. If it's Outlook Express on Win98 you could be a bit stuffed on Win7 as it isn't supplied any more.

(c) You could mean almost anything by "favourites", and the answer will be application specific. So what "favourites" did you have in mind?

(3) You won't (in general) be able to copy applications, you'll have to reinstall, and you'll have to install newer versions than you were running on Win98, which means you've got to go out and buy them. What applications are you using?

Good luck with getting a new PC set up over a weekend, by the way. When I get a new one I tend to have to run the old one and new one in parallel for about six months until I'm absolutely convinced that I've copied everything I need and that there's no rarely used tool I've not got round to setting up on the new one.

I tried exporting a few old e-mails (Outlook Express) to my new laptop which came with the abysmal 'Windows Live Mail' installed - it is possible to do so.

But 'Windows Live Mail' was the most infuriating, unreliable, complicated application I'd ever had the misfortune to use. Just as Gates' geeks removed the simplicity of 'Microsoft Photo Editor' from MS Office and replaced it with a junk application called 'Microsoft Office Picture Manager' and now, worse still, 'Windows Live Photo Gallery', they have deleted the simplicity of Outlook Express....and expect you either to pay for Outlook or to use the abysmal 'Windows Live Mail'.

Fortunately I was able to restore OE. Then the next discovery - the spell checker only worked in French thanks to the changes the geeks had made tin Office 2007 rendering the spell checker unavailable to OE...:mad:

However, a small third party software patch from Australia fixed that for a very small price....:ok:

I've stayed with Windows XP SP3 as, although I have the 'upgrade' option, I'm simply not going to spend another few weeks trying to get used to a wholly pointless change.

Good luck with the migration! You're fortunate to have Win98 as at least you can use a USB stick to transfer your files. When I changed from Win95 to WinXP it took about a day of transfer time using a special data transfer cable...:(

Sidetrack - workaround for OE from XP to Win7
 

How to use OE in Windows 7

NB You need Win7 premium it says.

If you are moving to Windows 7 simply because BT told you to by letter, then you could consider NOT moving if you are happy with your existing computer.

I like that you call BT arrogant, then do what they tell you!

Beagle.

That was a bit of a rant!

For the sake of balance. I use both Outlook and Windows Live Mail on different machines. If I had not spent the money on Outlook I would be perfectly happy to use WLM. It is free and I prefer it to OE.

So there!;)

Now windows Live Photo Gallery - You are on the right track there.

MC

Sorry, Mornington Crescent, but the POS Windows Live Mail managed to lose several important e-mails of mine. Fortunately, as I didn't trust it one inch, I had also saved them elsewhere.... And 5 individual inboxes for my 5 addresses was an utter PITA - the program didn't do what it was supposed to do.

Windows Live Mail Hate - 82% People Agree (80 opinions) has a pretty good list of complaints about the worthless piece of cr@p.

Anyone know where I can get a legitimate version of Microsoft Photo Editor? I still have an Office XP disk, but as it was installed on my previous PC, I guess I cannot use it on my new PC?

I tried the 'brothersoft' download, but it didn't work.....

No News client, so not useful as an OE replacement for anyone who uses usenet.

Try:

Photo! Editor - Download

That is NOT Microsoft Photo Editor. But thank you for the suggestion.

Thanks to all for the interesting and diverse responses. :ok:

OK, the reason I am upgrading is not because B :mad: T told me..it is because they are ceasing support for my browser....sent to me in an email starting "Dear Customer"....unlike the ones trying to flog me the Sky / BT package and other promotions beginning with "Dear Mr K n C"...subtle difference...the email basically was written in such a manner that implied the recipient was an idiot ( some justification on my part at times, possibly ..cough ! ) but did kindly offer to help me by links to a browser optimised for BT / Yahell ! / IE8....quelle surprise !....so I tried to download Firefox, IE8 etc and no joy...hence my rationale was make the leap to Win7 and then stay with it for as long as possible....my little PC is nearly 10 years old anyway given that I work on the "if it ain't broke" etc principle.....so the mail from BT sort of pushed me if you like.

Spoke to a BT techie today and got a sensible reply...I asked " customer services " about getting a Home Hub router....no problem they say....we can either flog you one for £80 or you can upgrade your broadband package by another £5 pm and get one free.....:mad:.....so I tried another tactic..called the techie side of BT ...seems my Voyager 220 ADSL voice router will be fine with the ethernet connection....so no need for a new router...just plug in and go.....any opinions or experiences which contradict this, please advise.

Transferring the data may be a bit more tricky ( for me ) but the IT guys at work have offered an "idiots guide" so this can be attempted once the new PC is up and running.....as for Favourites / Bookmarks, well a bit of selectivity is required....once Google is running, I can simply select those I want to keep from the old machine and enter accordingly.....emails may be a problem however, but again, the IT guys say if I copy out the settings etc on my old machine on to paper...a bit laborious, but if it works, fine..then simply enter into the new machine, all should be well.

Here endeth the 9'clock News.....;)

BEagle, If you still have or can borrow an Office XP disc, try this work around from MS.

(sorry about the previous I didn't check it out properly obviously)

Krystal

a couple of thoughts.
1. BT sent me a brand new home hub without asking for any more ££££ - all I had to do was to sign up for a same-price 18 month deal, rather than stay with the month-by month deal I was on.
2. My level of technical competence sounds a bit like yours. I've had 3 different modem routers and 3 different pcs in my (ahum) study. None of them have been "Voyagers". They've all been plug and play, and worked pretty much out of the box, other than finding where the passwords had been hidden, and how to turn off upnp. Getting the other machines that wander in to and out of the Ancient household has been easy, too.
3. The worst pain is the transmission of old e-mails (in Outlook Express) and old e-mail addresses between pc.s, and keeping OE. The e-mail addresses can be imported and exported to something called csv files in excel, but as i don't excel at that level of detail - I gave up and paid the local travelling IT guy 30 quid to fix it for me. Money well spent. It seemed to take him a few minutes, and it would have taken me years, and many bottles of thought-juice.
Hope that helps.
AO

:confused::confused::confused: I'm really puzzled here ... why would you care whether BT "support your browser" or not, whatever that means?

Gertrude IE6?

I agree with you Gertrude.

However, it might be that BT's user self-care / home page gubbins might be written expecting a newer browser, and some critical functionality (whatever that might be) might not work with a very old browser.

SD

So download a new browser? Seems bleedin' orbvious.

Parapunter

IE7 needs at least XP, will not work on 98. Obviously IE8 has no chance of working on 98

Anything newer than Firefox 2.0? Same

Newer versions of Opera? Guess

Chrome? XP or later

So, you can see the problem. The more "modern" versions of the most popular browsers simply will not work on W98 so upgrading is probably the best way to go. Also, it will mean that K'n'C might have another 10 years of happy computing with a puter that will be more suited to the bloated software we use today.

Of course, he could go Linux but that's another story.

I'm sure that there are an increasing number of web sites that don't work too well, or even at all, with IE6. But what's special about BT?

I sort-of gather (I'm not sure he actually said so) that BT is the OP's ISP ... but again, so what? I rarely to never visit my ISP's web site, and I don't give a toss what browsers they might or might not claim that their techies "support" - as far as I'm concerned my ISP provides a pipe down which I send and receive bits, and it's none of their business what the bits are.

If the problem is that the OP finds it important to be able to download his landline phone bill from BT and he won't be able to do so any more soon as they are about to stop supporting his browser then that might (if he cares enough about his phone bill) be a reason for upgrading. But I'm having to make stuff up here, as the information simply wasn't in any of his posts.