New PC - checking components & migrating files

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geegee

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New PC - checking components & migrating files

I have bought a new PC and need to transfer loads of emails from Outlook Express and Word documents and have the following questions:

Which is the best way to check that the PC contains exactly what the spec. says it does?

What is the easiest way to transfer the emails?

I have Word 97 on my old Windows 98SE PC – is this compatible with Windows XP? If so, should I just copy all of the Word documents onto a CD, install Word 97 and then copy the CD contents into My Documents?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Title edited by ClubMan.
 
Re: New PC

Which is the best way to check that the PC contains exactly what the spec. says it does?

Do you not trust the vendor to have installed the components to match the specification of the PC? If so, why? Windows Device Manager (Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager on Windows 2000 anyway, may be located differently on other Windows platforms) will give some details about the components and there are probably other hardware interrogation tools available for download too. Otherwise the only failsafe way to check the components is to open the PC up and check the make/model of each individual component (looking up details on the web where necessary).

What is the easiest way to transfer the emails?

I think that there was a topic dealing with how to backup and/or transfer existing Outlook Express mail/folders/contacts here on AAM a while back - you may be able to find it by browsing back through the contents of this forum.

I have Word 97 on my old Windows 98SE PC – is this compatible with Windows XP? If so, should I just copy all of the Word documents onto a CD, install Word 97 and then copy the CD contents into My Documents?

I'm not sure that Word 97 is compatible with Windows XP and you might be better off sticking with a more recent version of Office/Word better suited to XP if you have one. Alternatively you could try OpenOffice. Once you have a Word file format compatible system you should be able to simply copy, open, convert (if necessary) your existing documents.
 
New PC

Is openoffice an alternative word processing application compatable with Word 97
 
Re: New PC

If you look at the link that I provided you will see that OpenOffice is a free/open source "Office" style suite of applications which provides various Microsoft Office compatibility features such as the ability to read and save Word format documents. Compatibility may not be 100% so you should review the documentation, FAQs and discussion forums before commiting to it. On the other hand, other than the download overhead, it's free to try so there's nothing to lose if you decide to evaluate it.
 
Re

Download Belarc Advisor from the internet and run the programme and it will tell you exactly what your system comprises of.

Regards,
Horse.

Edited by ClubMan to add link.
 
.

i downloaded belarc - thank you- and have the following queries:

How can I tell if there is a 128MB Video graphics Card and what type it is?
Is an AMD Sempron 3000+ processor only 2Ghz?

gg
 
.

Further to this, just noticed that under "System" it says AMD Sempron whereas Belarc says AMD Athlon - which should I go off?
 
Re: .

How can I tell if there is a 128MB Video graphics Card and what type it is?

Look up the video card listed by Belarc on the web to check the specification. Alternatively look carefully at the messages displayed when booting up as they should indicate the type of hardware (including video card and memory spec) installed. If you don't see such messages then the "verbose" boot option may need to be enabled by hitting a key or tweaking the BIOS settings (only do the latter if you know what you're doing though).

Is an AMD Sempron 3000+ processor only 2Ghz?

Yes - 2GHz or possibly even less. The AMD [broken link removed] used to name chips are supposed to indicate the comparable Intel Pentium (or other variant) MHz/GHz speed. In this case a Sempron 3000+ is supposed to comarable to a Pentium running at c. 3GHz or more. Note that clock speed alone does not tell the full story about CPU or system performance due to significant internal architectural differences and the overall system composition (e.g. motherboard, chipset, memory and other device speeds etc.).

Further to this, just noticed that under "System" it says AMD Sempron whereas Belarc says AMD Athlon - which should I go off?

Could simply be that Belarc doesn't recognise the chip properly. If in doubt open the PC up and look at the actual CPU installed.
 
transferring files

geegee - the thread ClubMan identified is on Page 15 and it's called . I'm just starting to transfer from my old hard disc to a new one and doubtless will be back shortly in panic........

Link added by ClubMan.
 
another file transfer question

After 5 hours work I've succeeded in connecting my old (host) and new (guest) p.c.'s via a null (direct) cable connection and configured the ports so they recognise each other (parallel cable on LPT1).

Can anyone advise what is the sequence to now transmit documents from old to new p.c.? When I try "Open" "Send to" I get requests for passwords but even setting these (do they need to be set for every individual document transferred???) does not make it available to the new computer. How does the "Sharing" option function? Clicking this doesn't seem to produce any effect. Help!
 
New PC - checking components & migrating files

Within Belarc, under Display this is displayed:

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 [Display adapter]
PHILIPS 107E6 [Monitor] (15.2"vis, s/n CX 556352, August 2004)

Does the first line constitute a 128Mb DirectX 9 compatible Graphics card?

gg
 
Can anyone advise what is the sequence to now transmit documents from old to new p.c.?

In what application? If it's Hilgraeve's Hyperterminal as bundled with most or all versions of Windows (Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Communications -> HyperTerminal) then I wouldn't expect it to prompt for passwords. Or maybe you're trying to use Windows support for serial networking instead? I personally would use HyperTerminal, zip any files for transfer into one archive, run HyperTerminal on the receiving end and choose Transfer -> Receive File... and run it on the sending end and choose Transfer -> Send File... (obviously choosing the same protocol options on both ends) and that should work fine. Does that make sense to you?

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 [Display adapter]
PHILIPS 107E6 [Monitor] (15.2"vis, s/n CX 556352, August 2004)

Does the first line constitute a 128Mb DirectX 9 compatible Graphics card

Yes.
 
New PC - checking components & migrating files

Thanks again for the replies, Clubman.
Current tranche of problems(!):

1)My PC has a problem displaying System Information( start-all programmes-accessories-system tools-system information OR start-system information) - the system information window only opens for between one and five seconds and then closes. How can I rectify this? I telephoned technical support this morning re the above. I changed the start up settings within msconfig but this did not help.

2) I am attempting to install Microsoft Works but the following message keeps coming up: "Microsoft Works Installer Information Error 1305: Error reading from file: E:\ MSWORKS\PFiles\MSWorks\WKSv7std.sbs. Verify that the file exists and that you can access it." I have attempted to install this twice using both the D and E drives and this continues to occur.

gg
 
1)My PC has a problem displaying System Information( start-all programmes-accessories-system tools-system information OR start-system information) - the system information window only opens for between one and five seconds and then closes. How can I rectify this? I telephoned technical support this morning re the above. I changed the start up settings within msconfig but this did not help.

This could be a shot in the dark but ... no chance that this is the problem? Alternatively have you tried searching Google for other potential causes? Are there any error/warning events in your event log indicating any problems with your PC setup?

2) I am attempting to install Microsoft Works but the following message keeps coming up: "Microsoft Works Installer Information Error 1305: Error reading from file: E:\ MSWORKS\PFiles\MSWorks\WKSv7std.sbs. Verify that the file exists and that you can access it." I have attempted to install this twice using both the D and E drives and this continues to occur.

In the same vein ... anything useful ? Could be just a dodgy CD.
 
New PC - checking components & migrating files

This could be a shot in the dark but ... no chance that this is the problem? Alternatively have you tried searching Google for other potential causes? Are there any error/warning events in your event log indicating any problems with your PC setup?
Click to expand...

Clicked on the link but it shut down my browser and then again!

In the same vein ... anything useful here? Could be just a dodgy CD.
Click to expand...

looked at this but I am trying to install Works 8 which it doesn't cover. The CD is brand new.
 
Clicked on the link but it shut down my browser and then again!

Strange ... the link and the links that it contains work fine for me using FireFox 1.0 on Windows 2000.

looked at this but I am trying to install Works 8 which it doesn't cover. The CD is brand new.

Strange again ... the error message that you quoted suggests Works version 7!
 
New PC - checking components & migrating files

Strange ... the link and the links that it contains work fine for me using FireFox 1.0 on Windows 2000.
Click to expand...

It has just done it again - I amusing IE6.

Strange again ... the error message that you quoted suggests Works version 7
Click to expand...

It clearly states MS Works 8 on the CD!


I am now attempting to burn the Outlook Express folder onto a CD but it keeps saying "please insert a writable disk". I am using a Maxell CD-R 80 700MB which already contains a folder with 258MB of data, another with 63MB and an HTML document with 10KB. I only want to add another 65MB of data so the CD is by no means full.
On my old PC I used Roxio software which used to ask if "I wanted to add another volume to the CD which already contains data". I am now using CyberLink Power2Go sofrtware. Does this mean that every time I want to add data to a CD I will have to use a totally unused one? Is there a way of adding further data to it?
 
amusing IE6.

I don't find IE6's security, feature and performance flaws amusing which is why I switched to FireFox! However, I did just try IE6 SP1 again to check that link and it worked fine for me.

I am using a Maxell CD-R 80 700MB which already contains a folder with 258MB of data, another with 63MB and an HTML document with 10KB. I only want to add another 65MB of data so the CD is by no means full

The session is most likely closed so the CD-R is no longer writeable. I think that you can write CD-Rs without closing the session so that unused space can later be used but if the session is closed it's read only from then on. You'll probably need to familiarise yourself with the new CD writing software to see what, if any, support it has for open session mode writing. You might be better off getting a stack of CD-RWs - I certainly find them much better for reusablility.
 
New PC - checking components & migrating files

ClubMan - Thank you for that help, which I was unable to access until now as I CRASHED MY SYSTEM ON CHRISTMAS DAY whilst trying to entrain the two computers and migrate the files! Ouch Ouch Ouch.

I'm proud to say I've restored and stabilised the system on this computer (the old tired one). Will attach the null cable and have another go at migrating files when I've regained my equanity and opened a week's accumulated e-mail.

A good New Year to all at AAM. "Slan agus bheanacht, is go n-eiri an bothair leath" in all your endeavours.
 
Will attach the null cable and have another go at migrating files when I've regained my equanity and opened a week's accumulated e-mail.
Click to expand...
Might be a lot simpler to splash out [broken link removed] and use that to transfer the files?
 
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