Failed Win 10 PC

I have a ~6 +year old HP desktop, that will no longer boot. It may be
as simple as a failed video card, but I have no interest in repairing
($$) this relic.

If I buy a new desktop, can I do a transfer of my many programs (ala
MSFT Office). I intend to buy a new desktop, but sure would like to
xfer my existing programs. Is that possible?

wrote on 9/13/2017 1:56 PM:
I have a ~6 +year old HP desktop, that will no longer boot. It may be
as simple as a failed video card, but I have no interest in repairing
($$) this relic.

If I buy a new desktop, can I do a transfer of my many programs (ala
MSFT Office). I intend to buy a new desktop, but sure would like to
xfer my existing programs. Is that possible?

Programs are not transferable. They must be reinstalled.

On Wed, 13 Sep 2017 13:56:59 -0400, wrote:

I have a ~6 +year old HP desktop, that will no longer boot. It may be
as simple as a failed video card, but I have no interest in repairing
($$) this relic.

If I buy a new desktop, can I do a transfer of my many programs (ala
MSFT Office). I intend to buy a new desktop, but sure would like to
xfer my existing programs. Is that possible?


In general, no, it's not possible. That's because most programs have
many references to them and where they are located, in the registry
and elsewhere. You can transfer the .exe file and everything else
that's in the same folder, but that doesn't transfer everything that's
needed.

There's an occasional program that's self-contained and can be
transferred, but they are few and far between. Since you will need to
reinstall almost all of them from their original media, it hardly even
pays to see if you can find one or two that can be transferred.

On 13/09/2017 18:56:59, wrote:
I have a ~6 +year old HP desktop, that will no longer boot. It may be
as simple as a failed video card, but I have no interest in repairing
($$) this relic.

If I buy a new desktop, can I do a transfer of my many programs (ala
MSFT Office). I intend to buy a new desktop, but sure would like to
xfer my existing programs. Is that possible?

Keep the old hard drive until you get the new desktop then plug the
drive into it and see what you have got.
If it is working then you can transfer over all your personal files
then you may be able to clone the old C drive with it's system and
programs to the new drive.

--
mick

wrote in message ...

I have a ~6 +year old HP desktop, that will no longer boot.
It may be as simple as a failed video card, but I have no interest
in repairing ($$) this relic.

If I buy a new desktop, can I do a transfer of my many programs
(ala MSFT Office). I intend to buy a new desktop, but sure
would like to xfer my existing programs. Is that possible?

Purchase the new pc, create recovery disk if appropriate, update Windows,
image the drive(all partitions) to an external device using 3rd party
imaging software(e.g. Macrium Reflect or Acronis True Image), remove all the
junk-ware if present, reinstall all your programs, image the drive(all
partitions) to an external device.


--
....winston
ms mvp windows 2007-2016, insider mvp 2016-2018

On 9/13/2017 1:56 PM, wrote:
I have a ~6 +year old HP desktop, that will no longer boot. It may be
as simple as a failed video card, but I have no interest in repairing
($$) this relic.

If I buy a new desktop, can I do a transfer of my many programs (ala
MSFT Office). I intend to buy a new desktop, but sure would like to
xfer my existing programs. Is that possible?

While as said you can not easily or reliable transfer programs, if you
are like me you don't care about the program as much as you do about the
personallization you have done to the program. Usually there is a
folder with all of this information. If you copy that folder to the new
computer, your will have your old personallization when you install the
old program on the new computer.

Just because the computer will not boot does not mean that you can not
access the files on the disk when installed as an external drive. It
may pay to buy a USB enclosure for the old disk and use it as an
external drive on the new computer. This makes transferring files and
folders much easier as it is a copy/paste from File Explorer. Enclosure
can be bought for 10 to $20 at most of the Office supply stores like
Staples.




--
2017: The year we learn to play the great game of Euchre

On Wed, 13 Sep 2017 16:19:48 -0400, Keith Nuttle
wrote:

On 9/13/2017 1:56 PM, wrote:
I have a ~6 +year old HP desktop, that will no longer boot. It may be
as simple as a failed video card, but I have no interest in repairing
($$) this relic.

If I buy a new desktop, can I do a transfer of my many programs (ala
MSFT Office). I intend to buy a new desktop, but sure would like to
xfer my existing programs. Is that possible?

While as said you can not easily or reliable transfer programs, if you
are like me you don't care about the program as much as you do about the
personallization you have done to the program. Usually there is a
folder with all of this information. If you copy that folder to the new
computer, your will have your old personallization when you install the
old program on the new computer.



Copying it is good advice, but whether the personalization is in a
single folder or not depends on the program. Many programs have their
personalizations in different places.


Just because the computer will not boot does not mean that you can not
access the files on the disk when installed as an external drive. It
may pay to buy a USB enclosure for the old disk and use it as an
external drive on the new computer. This makes transferring files and
folders much easier as it is a copy/paste from File Explorer. Enclosure
can be bought for 10 to $20 at most of the Office supply stores like
Staples.


Also good advce. You can also buy it at Amazon.com.

wrote:
I have a ~6 +year old HP desktop, that will no longer boot. It may be
as simple as a failed video card, but I have no interest in repairing
($$) this relic.

If I buy a new desktop, can I do a transfer of my many programs (ala
MSFT Office). I intend to buy a new desktop, but sure would like to
xfer my existing programs. Is that possible?

$$$
http://web.laplink.com/pcmover_feature_overview/

$$$$$
http://www.zinstall.com/products/zinstall-winwin?m=npc

$$$$$$$$
Geek Squad

*******

Before doing anything, the cheapest first step is to take
the side off the PC and have a look :-) I realize some PCs
aren't packaged nicely - I have one computer here, which
is a "scissor job", and you have to get on the
kitchen floor with that thing, ease the side down,
and hold the side so none of the cables get stressed.
Not that one... sucks :-)

Everything else I own, on purpose, the side comes
off. I won't even put up with the "two screw" kind.
Each of mine now, the ones I use every day, have
a handle to allow opening the side instantly.
Antec cases are like that, at least the ones I bought.
Antec Sonata, if they're still around.

Some machines have diagnostic LEDs. Four LEDs, which
give two colors of light, or operate without
illumination. That gives three states per LED.
Normally the codes might be yellow and green or
something, for each LED. All LEDs go off, if the
coast is clear at boot. The LEDs should normally
light for a moment, to prove the LEDs still work.

My newest machine, has some corny red LEDs you can
only see with the side off the computer. There's
a LED that lights up "before I'm ready to boot",
and the LED goes off when it accesses the hard
drive. They should just stick with PC Port 80 display
cards, instead of junk like that. Some enthusiast
motherboards, have a Port 80 display right on the
motherboard, to help with debugging.

*******

Occasionally, the line cord works loose. Reseat the
line cord. If the keyboard, mouse, or USB devices normally
light up, that might help indicate the PSU is not completely
broken.

If the PC has an OFF switch on the back, you want to
flip to OFF, before reseating the line cord.
Then, wait 30 seconds, flip the switch to ON.
That delay, protects the inrush limiter.

I had the Molex aux power connector, burn off the
end of an ATI (AGP) video card. Back in that era, the
card still runs without that connector present,
and puts up a red box stating "plug my damn cable
in", or words to that effect. I managed to fix that
card, by soldering a Molex cable snipped in half, to it.
And got another three or four years out of the card.
That PC is retired now (it's only a P4).

There's a limited amount you can do by looking,
but sometimes you can see the strangest things.
For example, some Dell computers, the Northbridge
heatsink falls off. And the manufacturer was so sure
it would fall off, a "protective circuit" has the
Northbridge heatsink in an electrical circuit.
If the Northbridge falls off, the PC cannot be started
with the front button. There are no visual indicators,
no beep sounds, nothing. You're supposed to be like
Kreskin, and guess what happened. Talk about dumb.
A visual check can catch that one, and fortunately,
that's only a P4 era issue.

HTH,
Paul

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Wed, 13 Sep 2017 13:56:59 -0400,
wrote:

I have a ~6 +year old HP desktop, that will no longer boot. It may be
as simple as a failed video card, but I have no interest in repairing
($$) this relic.

If I buy a new desktop, can I do a transfer of my many programs (ala
MSFT Office). I intend to buy a new desktop, but sure would like to
xfer my existing programs. Is that possible?

Almost never.

I save all my installation files. That is, when it gives a choice of
Run or Save, I choose Save and run it after downloading. Just yesterday
I copied about 42 downloaded files, almost all of them installation
files, to my new laptop. Then they will be there when I need them. In
one case, I think advertising was added but I could still find in my
files an earlier version without ads.

With Firefox, Thunderbird, and other mozilla programs if there are any,
after installation, you can open a mozilla account and then so something
in both computers and it will copy almost everything over, but I guess
that doesn't apply here because your laptop won't boot.

A few programs like Eudora and Forte Agent don't have to be installed to
work. Just copy over the files including some of the data files, esp.
the .ini file, and make a shortcut for it, and they will work. However
without installation, you can't click on a mailto: link in a web browser
or click on an .mbx file and expect Eudora to start. You need
installation to tell the OS about the program. However Eudora can be
installed any time, even long after you start using it.

Same with Forte Agent, that clicking on a file will not call it until
it's been installed, but afaicr, this never comes up for me. There are
links one could click on, but I never see them or want to.

On 13/9/2017 10:56, wrote:

I have a ~6 +year old HP desktop, that will no longer boot. It may be
as simple as a failed video card, but I have no interest in repairing
($$) this relic.

What does it doe when you turn it on? What does the monitor show?

If I buy a new desktop, can I do a transfer of my many programs (ala
MSFT Office). I intend to buy a new desktop, but sure would like to
xfer my existing programs. Is that possible?

Transfer of programs not usually possible. Reinstall safest option.
Even installing the original hard drive in the new system to see
if it boots usually won't work either.

Stef

On 13/09/2017 21:19, Keith Nuttle wrote:
While as said you can not easily or reliable transfer programs, if you
are like me you don't care about the program as much as you do about the
personallization you have done to the program.Â* Usually there is a
folder with all of this information.Â* If you copy that folder to the new
computer, your will have your old personallization when you install the
old program on the new computer.

Many program have there settings and other personalization in the registry.

The relevant part of the registry can usually be copied without too much
trouble if you can find it but it's not just a folder you find in explorer.

--

Brian Gregory (in the UK).
To email me please remove all the letter vee from my email address.

On Wed, 13 Sep 2017 13:56:59 -0400, wrote:

If I buy a new desktop,

Remove the new hard disk, put the old one in and see whether the
system will continue running. Perhaps you have to tweak the BIOS a
bit.

Regards

M.