Greetings,

Please can anybody advise concerning the WindowsXP Files and Settings
Transfer Wizard under System Tools under Accessories under Programs?

I have a laptop which is set up more or less as I wish, I have a desktop
which, to be frank, is a mess and rather than go through the taudry setting
things up, how reliable is this wizzard and what will it transfer and what
should I watch out for?  Both machines are running Windows XP home, I cannot
guarantee the laptop is quite so updated as the desktop, which has XP
Service Pack 3 installed.

I will explain a little as to the history so you can judge more accurately
and probably give better informed opinions.

Both machines, up to about seven weeks ago, ran exactly the same system, I
had them set up close as means nothing the same and was happy with this.
then the desktop threw a wobly in that I hneeded  to have XP reinstalled
over the top.  I seemingly lost nothing and the machine functioned no
problems for about three weeks, then, exactly the same failure and when my
volunteer came we ran repair seemingly no problem, but on restarting system
it came up with trying to load c:\windows\system32\hal.dll which, on further
investigation, proved to be an essential system file which according to the
message back from the startup routine, was either missing or corrupted. It
pointed, amongst other things, to a possible disk failure but as the machine
had only been in my possession for six months, I thought we ought not to
have this happen. Having already run the repair, we tried all sorts of
things to load the file, no go, would not see the USB device.

In the end, the box was taken away, a new disk with cloned data from old
disk and ram installed, and the box returned.  I eventually installed Jaws
v9, was able to connect to the net and get the update and, thank the Lord,
had not lost my authorization.

Now, therefore, I have a machine with XP Home Service Pack 3, many of the
settings are wildly out but some are present, the machine is useable to a
point but I would like to install settings currently on the laptop and want
to know if the wizard will seamlessly achieve this.

so, what do I need to look out for and what do I need to change?

Obviously, I will treat the laptop as the "old" computer, ensure the XP
button is checked and can write the data to an sd card which can be read by
both machines or a 3.5 inch floppy, having an external USB drive I can move
around.

any help / advice would be most gratefully accepted.

Incidentally, I am copying this message to a friend in the States and to my
volunteer.


From Colin Howard near Southampton in Southern England.


    VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
    http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
    Signoff: [log in to unmask]
    Subscribe: [log in to unmask]