OT. Tech advice needed.

Regarding purchasing a new one: have you tried Tiger Direct? That's where we almost always get our PCs. They have XP- and Vista-ready machines. I have not looked at laptops. Have no interest. But they carry an enormous selection, many "to order", which my new one is.

We simply bought a new hard drive and started from scratch. There is so much junk that accumulates on a computer and clogs things, that I'd format and start over. Formatting is easy. Getting everything up and ready again is the hard part. As long as you have Serial numbers - especially for XP - that should do it.

And, of course, back up your data if you can. :~) We have a 150gig external USB for just that purpose. Saved my hide this time around.

Dianne

Olwyn Mary wrote:

Piggybacking on Dianne's recommendation, I can also highly recommend newegg.com if you go the new PC route. Their prices usually can't be beat, and their customer service is top notch. I've purchased computer parts from them several times. In fact, I just re-built this desktop with all brand new parts (except the hard drive) from newegg just last night! I usually compare newegg, tiger direct, and microcenter.com for whomever has the best prices, and it's usually newegg. I like to build, re-build, and fix PC's as a hobby. I'm a geek. I like microcenter too because they have an actual brick & mortar store fairly close to me and their sales clerks actually know what the heck they are talking about (unlike Best Buy--never get PC advice from those 15 year olds). All three are highly reputable online stores. A quick search on newegg shows they sell 6 Lenovo PC's that come with XP (albeit the professional version), ranging from $550-$950. I've never used XP Home, only XP Pro. Pro has everything that Home does, plus a few other features geared towards business users, such as enhanced security features. Also, if you do end up buying a new computer, XP Home does not support dual core processors which are common now, and XP Pro does. I'd buy a Lenovo over a Dell any day.

If you want to take a conservative route, XP has a "repair" option on the CD. This will fix any missing files that may have been removed that are integral to the functioning of XP and it will not delete or harm any of your documents or other programs. You might want to try that first before completely throwing the baby out with the bathwater (but I completely understand doing so--that's how I ended up rebuilding this one!). I'm not familiar with "PC Relocator", but depending on who your ISP is, they may also offer an online backup service for you that is included in your service.

$29.99 isn't too expensive if you'd rather not have the hassle or worry of doing the wiping wrong if you choose that route. Too bad they won't reinstall all your old programs back on there for that price too!

HTH, Jinx

"Dianne Lewandowski" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

Unfortunately, there isn't going to be a direct upgrade path from XP to Windows 7 (at least that's the current "word on the street"). I needed to upgrade my laptop which has XP and was going to wait for Windows 7 to come out before I read that in several usually reliable tech newsletters :( I just yesterday received my new HP laptop with Vista and I must say that I am not having the problems I was expecting to have in getting used to the new OS.

Dorothy

I think one can still test out Windows 7 in beta but I haven't heard that it is significantly more desirable than Vista (Vaster)

I have not had problems with Vista Home but I understand the 64 bit edition doesn't care for older software. That would be a disadvantage for me because I hate going to find drivers for same and that apparently is the only way.

Vista is okay, I just liked XP better. Fortunately my mini came equipped with XP because Vaster is too much for the minis with the atom processors, so I should be able to keep an XP around until they cremate me with it lol That said, I am besotted with the mini but it would not do (for me) as a main computer, too small. I also have a regular laptop, Dell XPS which I now use as main and it's great. I have a wireless keyboard and mouse set up for it.

Thank you, Dianne. After I get some more advice as to which laptop would be best for me, I shall certainly look there.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Thank you, Jinx. You do realize, don't you, that (giggle) I only comprehend about one-third of what you are talkng about. I am a needlewoman, a cook and a writer. I am NOT a geek! Darn it. Life would be so much easer if I were.

Unfortunately, the "system restore" option is not available to me. That clown wiped my hard drive and put on a totally strange system, without many of the things I use, but with, apparently, all of his favorite stuff, and then intimated that he had done me a great favor. Grrrrrrrrr

How would you like a free weekend in the Big Easy in return for fixing my stuff??????? The guest room is available this week!!!!!

As I said, I would like to clean off that computer again, install Windows XP Home, then copy everything I have on this desktop over to the laptop, I just don't know how to do it and would need absolute beginner instructions.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Are you using a router ? If so you can easily shift anything between the two computers. With Vista I must admit, it is made even more simple to do so than it was in XP - but in fairness to XP, there were not too many routers in general use when it - XP- came out.

You can also use an external hard drive, depending how large you want it, less than $100. You plug it into your computer and then tell it what you want backed up on to it. In case of fire and flood you can grab that and always have your valuables on it and very portable. Also you can sync it with the other computer and pick the files off on to the other one.

I bought an USB connected external hard drive after my last disaster, when I lost a lot of files and pictures. I admit that I hadn't been as careful as I should have been to back up important things to a disk.

I now have my computer set to back up automatically to the EHD every day. Hopefully I won't ever need it, but it's a comfort to know it's there.

Lucille

I daren`t get a wireless mouse - I`m prone to wandering off with things and would soon forget where I`d left it!

Pat