Newer Than "Newbie" With New Computer

Thank you both for your prompt replies.
I never made a back up (stupid newbie behavior). I tried recently with some blank DVD-RW's I bought to record TV programs (never did). It didn't work on my computer. I got as far as to copy what I wanted to transfer, but when I put the disc in nothing happened. I was able to play a movie on this computer but not transfer data. Is there a difference in DVD's? I did order a transfer cable when I bought my new computer as I was told by Dell that this would be the easiest way. After some research I found that it might not work and now that its "not for the faint of heart." YIKES!
I did go to Staples to buy a thumb drive but was asked how many GB I needed. I have no idea. This is a five year old Dell Inspiron 1100. Where can I find my machines specs? I do want to copy what I can in case the cable fails.
Thanks

should be enough to transfer your important data and not very expensive.
However if you can afford a ab 8gb one go for it, best to have too much than not enough.
If you have a lot of media files, music/video and audio then you may need more space, only you will know how much space they take up. If that is the case then an external drive may be required.
Assuming you only have documents and photos that you are concerned with a usb thumb drive will do it. As previously stated all programs will have to be reinstalled and can not be transferred.
In addition if you have mail, contacts and favourites that you wish to transfer, this can be done using the Easy Transfer Wizard in Vista.
You can use that to backup the above as well as your documents and photos. Run it in Vista and follow the instructions, be sure to read everything carefully and you should have no problems backing up from the old computer.
Once you have it on the usb stick run the exe file on the drive to restore.

OK. I just bought a SanDisk "Cruzer Micro" USB 2.0 flash drive w/4GB.
So now I just have to figure out how to use it.
The transfer cable I purchased from Dell is a "Tripplite"...anybody have any info on this?
The techy from Staples was suggesting I buy a "Tornado" transfer cable for its ease of use, any thoughts?
Everyone I speak to is decrying Vista, I'm getting very anxious about my choice. But I'm told Microsoft is doing away with XP. Any insight on this? Dell wants $150 to install XP. Should I just wait and see if Microsoft offers a free upgrade?
This new computer is becoming the dreaded "BEGETS!" This begets that, that begets this, and on and on!
Again, thanks for all your help.

That's not too difficult. Just put in a USB-slot in your PC. The first time it has to install some drivers and after 10 seconds it says it's ready. After that first time it's ready immediately.

You might get a pop-up window asking what to do. Choose what you want, but I would choose "nothing" the first time.

Then open My Computer or Windows Explorer (that's XP speak). You'll see that the USB-stick as a new drive, with a new letter (not c:, not d: but e: or f: or even higher depending on what's in your machine. Then using these tools you can copy files and folders to and from it, and make folders on it, just the normal way, like you do on your hard disk. No problem at all.

The only important point: the Safely remove hardware icon in your System Notification Area (next to the clock). Use that to 'dismount' (that's not a XP term, they use 'stop') the drive before you remove it. Otherwise it might become corrupted.

Just try. It's easy.


Kees

you need a burning program. The one from www.cdburnerxp.se is free.

Notes:
- You can burn CD's in XP without any additional software.
- In Vista burning to DVD should work also without additional software, but generally it's recommended to use a burning program. In fact, most burners come with it.

Kees

there is a way around that, simply google "glary utillities" and you'll find a program to undelete your old files...be sure to backup this time as it is more convenient this way

Hi everyone,

Well, hope springs eternal!!! I managed to figure out how the U3 flash drive works. It was only my extreme lack of computer knowledge that was the problem.
Thanks to all for your help.