Transferring files, folders and programmes to new computer

[tabbypurr]

When I ran W98 I was surprised to find that a fair percentage of programs ran perfectly if their installed files/folders were simply copied into the program files directory. It saved a good bit of time.

NT

[Chris Hogg]

Thanks for all the replies and discussion. Copying the data files is easy, and I've already done a lot of that. I was more interested in copying the programmes, but I can see there might be problems, especially going from 32 to 64 bit. I think re-installing them would be simpler. Now where the hell are those disks - moved house 6 months ago - still a lot of stuff in boxes :-(

[Brian Gaff]

Yes reinstall when you can. Many bits of software that are reinstalled contain routines to convert old data to the new formats and new folder structures as well of cours. Unfortunately in the case of programs many now use the registry for storing things like file paths and there is no easy way to move this data without doing it the old school way of reinstalling and letting the software import the data. Brian

[spuorgelgoog]

Wasn't that *before* MS invoked the abomination that is The Registry?

Owain

[spuorgelgoog]

I know someone still running XP for exactly that reason.

Owain

[T i m]

Sure, but what percentage of *machines* were running AutoCAD, worldwide?

Whilst you may be right in that instance ... and this sort of thing isn't completely unknown across all OS's, one of the things that has actually held MS back was how it tried to maintain the backward compatibility with older software / hardware.

I am aware also of programmers using undocumented calls and subroutines to then find them broken after an update or upgrade.

In some early OS's you *could* access say the serial port directly and that was how some software makers could secure their programs via the use of a personality module / dongle. Improve the access to that physical port via an intermediate software layer (that improves things for 99.99% of customers) and you are bound to upset a few others.

Cheers, T i m

[Robin]

If you have the disk space you could save disk images of software to avoid the need in future to hunt out the hard-to-find copies. They could be stored with the product keys, serial numbers, etc you have already backed up along with other important data.

[Bob Eager]

I run XP in an isolated VM for one program that has a 16 bit setup program.

I also run an isolated machine for a program that was never updated past XP.

[tabbypurr]

No, 98 isn't that ancient. 98 made heavy use of the registry.

The percentage does depend on the software you choose: bloated megasuites normally require installing, light apps more often don't or didn't.

NT

[George Miles]

consider moving from old paid for or pirated windows software to free opensource equivalents, some of which are at a page i help with at

[John Rumm]

Thins like ms office can be downloaded from MS if required. For older versions, just extract the key from the running machine (Nirsoft key finder), and type it into the MS web site - you can then download the install image.