DenverBrian

Windows Easy Transfer won't work, but PCmover Express is free.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...-in-windows-10

Mary2e

I just mapped to my old computer and am copying the files over.

Do one of these movers do anything different or special?

DYKWIA

They'll copy over programs & settings as well as data.

ajGoes

Ideally, you would install the migration tool on both computers and push a button. After an hour or two, the new computer would have all the same files in the same locations, the desktops would be identical, and all your installed software would work on the new computer exactly as it did on the old.

This is not really possible in the Windows world, but a really good migration tool would get you very close.

Mary2e

Hmmm... now that would save me some time. I'll look into it. Thanks.

nkedel

The changes to the control panel are an annoyance, although they're much less annoying than the similar changes to 8/8.1

I don't like Edge, either, but going back to IE seems even worse. You really can't tolerate either Firefox or Chrome?

--

Assuming for a minute that the right solution might be going back to Windows 7, why do you think Pro rather than Home (Home Premium?) would make a difference?

As for the new PC, whether it will run well on Windows 7 depends on the hardware. Most new PCs are still capable of running it, but there are a few features (mostly higher end stuff, or on hybrid tablets) which will be problematic with Windows 7 -- most of which will simply be happily disabled [e.g. many Thunderbolt ports] but systems that have ONLY USB-C based ports or which are touch-related (including some newer touchpads) may cause problems with the functionality in general.

It's also very much a "wipe and reinstall" -- there is no in-place downgrade unless the machine was manually upgraded before.

I actually like the Microsoft Calendar app.

Weather and News, not so much. Easy enough to get rid of the tiles, may even be possible to uninstall the apps.

First step is to have a Windows 10 Pro retail license, or a Windows 10 Pro OEM license from a manufacturer who has a contract that allows downgrades.

Home has no downgrade rights.

Costco has a very liberal return policy. Of the major manufacturers, they're the last one I'd consider.

Definitely works with retail keys. Not sure if it works with OEM keys, but the worst case scenario -- doing the upgrade and then having it not activate -- is readily fixed by doing a backup first (and I think the rollback feature on upgrade will actually save even that much trouble, should it happen.)

Loren Pechtel

HP used to be good. These days I say it stands for Huge Problems.

LIH Prem

One of the first things to turn off.

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/sof...ht-now-1301257

nkedel

For (consumer) PCs, I've never seen them be good; I had problems with their models before the Compaq buyout, even worse problems after the Compaq buyout, and it went downhill from there.

Now, back in the day, their printers (and their Unix machines) were really good stuff.

Loren Pechtel

I used some of their gear in the early 90s and it was always good.

DYKWIA

I had a tiny Compaq Aero notebook as my first portable. Well, it seemed tiny at the time

It ran Windows 3.0 in many shades of grey. I think they brought a colour version out later.

Mary2e

I can't thank all of you enough for the suggestions and links. I plan on spending some quality time getting it set up this weekend and the help has been invaluable ^^

Letitride3c

Here's one more link for your weekend project - stock up on a 8GB usb drive plus external USB, always good to do some backing up first.
Some of the info & links are probably too technical and not for the average end users, but if you need info - a good place to look around ... Have fun

nkedel

Until HP bought them out and murdered their company (and DEC), Compaq made great stuff.

For those who read OMNI, see here.

I don't think I saw any of their (HP's) PCs quite that early; my negative experiences started probably around 1996-1997 when I started doing consulting work, but I don't recall seeing consumer-market PCs from them before that. It looks from wikipedia like they introduced their Pavilion line in 1995.

They had some very weird non-standard case and board construction in some of those, which on top of bad reliability made me absolutely HATE when customers turned out to have them.

Not quite as cr*ppy as Packard Bell, or (a little later) eMachines, but... bleh.

I think they had some better business-line PCs at the time, but I rarely saw them.

Mary2e

FWIW - my old PC is an HP. I purchased it in 2009 and it's been fine for me. But as I said, my needs are not many.

I got PCmover as suggested above. The free version only copies files and settings, so I sprung for the pro version ($30) to also move the programs. It's going now and claims it will be finished in 4 hours.

What wasn't listed to transfer was Turbo Tax. I wonder if that's not because it's not in the program files directory. I've had it for ages and initially installed it in another folder and just kept doing it. Oh well. If that's the worst of what I have to reinstall, I'll be a happy camper.

Will keep you posted.