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Hi all
I am going to buy a brand new computer next week. I am sure it will
probably be XP Home.
My question is right now I have WIN ME How do I get all my personal
documents, Favorites from the internet, All my passwords, etc. transferred
over to my new computer.
Also I will be giving my old computer to a friend. What steps do I take to
make sure that none of my personal stuff or websites visited etc. will not
be still available on my old computer. Thanks in advance

Ninip wrote:

> Hi all
> I am going to buy a brand new computer next week. I am sure it will
> probably be XP Home.
> My question is right now I have WIN ME How do I get all my personal
> documents, Favorites from the internet, All my passwords, etc. transferred
> over to my new computer.

There is a transfer agent on XP which will help with transferring existing
setups from other MS OS to XP. Actually I don't know how well it will work
with ME. Anyway, burn your ME "Documents and Settings" folder to a CD or
CDRW. It's a good backup, and you can then insert and import that one.
After you made sure it's readable ok, logon and use IE settings panel to
delete everything from profiles to cookies, cache and history. Then logon
as another user on ME, set explorer preferences to show even hidden files
and delete your subfolder after you have deleted the email, news, dialup
accounts (they are stored in registry).
If you have (older) programs that will store personal data inside their
program directories, you have to hunt them by yourself.
--
Longhorn error#4711: TCPA / NGSCB VIOLATION: Microsoft optical mouse
detected penguin patterns on mousepad. Partition scan in progress
*to*remove*offending*incompatible*products.**Reactivate*your*MS*software.
Linux woodpecker.homnet.at 2.6.8reiser4pkt*[LinuxCounter#295241]

"Ninip" <> wrote in message
news:upg4d.491662$gE.287224@pd7tw3no...

> Also I will be giving my old computer to a friend. What steps do I take
to
> make sure that none of my personal stuff or websites visited etc. will not
> be still available on my old computer. Thanks in advance
>
>

Personaly when I "dispose" of an old PC I always format c: and reinstall
windows. If you just delete stuff, even when you think you found it all you
would be surprised what is still there.

I have got old pcs from company auctions and found hard drives full of stuff
they thought they deleted. Some which could have been potentially
embarrasing for them.

If you have a system restore disk which was supplied with the system, try
using that after you have transfered what you want.

From experience, I have to agree with this poster. There is stuff all over
the hard drive that you may forget to delete. In the registry. On the
desk top. In temp files. In the internet cashe. In the history file. In
the password file; in the recycle bin. And, of course, on the "empty"
space.

If you care about your privacy, do the Windows reinstal.



"dk" <> wrote in message
news:bnk4d.252$...
>
> "Ninip" <> wrote in message
> news:upg4d.491662$gE.287224@pd7tw3no...
>
>> Also I will be giving my old computer to a friend. What steps do I take
> to
>> make sure that none of my personal stuff or websites visited etc. will
>> not
>> be still available on my old computer. Thanks in advance
>>
>>
>
> Personaly when I "dispose" of an old PC I always format c: and reinstall
> windows. If you just delete stuff, even when you think you found it all
> you
> would be surprised what is still there.
>
> I have got old pcs from company auctions and found hard drives full of
> stuff
> they thought they deleted. Some which could have been potentially
> embarrasing for them.
>
> If you have a system restore disk which was supplied with the system, try
> using that after you have transfered what you want.
>
>

Ninip wrote:

> What steps do I take to make sure that none of my personal stuff or websites > visited etc. will not be still available on my old computer. Thanks in advance

Back up all data on your computer to a CD and give that CD to your
friend along with the computer.

--
"Or maybe I misunderstood the question."

"its_my_dime" < (hold the .spam)> wrote in
news:YKm4d.145004$:

> From experience, I have to agree with this poster. There is stuff
> all over the hard drive that you may forget to delete. In the
> registry. On the desk top. In temp files. In the internet cashe.
> In the history file. In the password file; in the recycle bin. And,
> of course, on the "empty" space.
>
> If you care about your privacy, do the Windows reinstal.

A format and reinstall isn't enough, depending on what data you want to
destroy. It is still *possible*, though difficult, for data to be
recovered.

If there's anything more sensitive than browsing history on the machine
such as credit card numbers, banking/financial information, legal
documents, passwords, et cetera, I'd strongly recommend using a data
destruction tool such as Eraser or Boot & Nuke *before* a
format/reinstall.

You don't know *where* the computer will end up or who has access to it
once it's in the OP's friend's hands or when he's done with it.

Or just yank the hard drive from the old computer and put it in your new
machine as a second hard drive. This has several benefits: the data is
safe and can be more easily transferred to the new computer, the HD can
then be used as a backup after data transfer, and a friend gets a
computer for the price of a HD.

Links:

Eraser:
http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/

Darik's Boot & Nuke:
http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Regards,
~sethra

"Ninip" <> wrote in message
news:upg4d.491662$gE.287224@pd7tw3no...
> Hi all
> I am going to buy a brand new computer next week. I am sure it will
> probably be XP Home.
> My question is right now I have WIN ME

* If you are unable to install the hard drive in the new machine on a
temporary basis to copy the data directly:

*How do I get all my personal documents
Copy them to removable media (floppy disk, Zip disk, CDR or CDRW) or if none
of those is practical:
Either use a Fastlynx (serial or parallel) cable and the appropriate
software to transfer between, or install a LAN card in each PC and connect
together with a Crossover LAN cable.
Note do this last 'after' you have saved your favourites, emails etc to your
documents folder so they get transfered at the same time.

*Favorites from the internet
Open IE, File, Import/Export, Export Favourites to your Documents folder
(bookmark.htm) Same process in reverse on the new PC i.e. Open IE, File,
Import/Export, Import Favourites... bookmark.htm from your Documents folder.

*All my passwords
Would have thought you would just type them in as required, bad password
management if you can't remember them.

*Address book
Open OE, File, Export, Address book and follow the wizard, save in your
Document folder again.
Importing is the reverse.

*eMails
Open OE, Tools, Maintenance, Click on 'Store Folder' button and note the
folder they are stored in. Copy this folder to your Documents before
transfering to new PC
Import on new PC, Open IE, Import, choose your old version of OE (V5 = V6)
then navigate to the copy of your email folder in your Documents.

At all times 'READ' what is say's on the screen, and use the 'Help' to guide
you.

>, etc. transferred
> over to my new computer.
> Also I will be giving my old computer to a friend. What steps do I take
> to
> make sure that

*none of my personal stuff ...
The only 'secure' way is to wipe the hard drive with something like
'WipeInfo' (Norton) which writes garbage to every bit of the hard drive from
DOS. Then reinstall Windows, Drivers etc.

I agree with other posters that it is very difficult to remove 'all'
personal data from a PC. I recently checked one before giving it away doing
a random check through the registry. And there was the previous owners bank
account and credit card number just waiting for a password cracker to open.

All depends on your 'Paranoia' level and how good a friend they are.

>or websites visited etc. will not
> be still available on my old computer. Thanks in advance
>

Cheers
Paul.