Howto transfer beloved digital photos, files to newWindows PC

Q. Can Imove the photos from XP to a newWindows program? Should Iwait and get 10? You said they are skipping 9. Iwork with 7.1 at mywork and I thinkwe are going to get 8 after the holidayswhere Iwork. Howdo I getmy photos? Andmaybe last year’s Turbo Tax I never burned to a CD? My niece (in Illinois) said something about a cord thatwould plug intomy board? Ha ha— lots of cooks helping by phone! Or do I just take it to the guys at Best Buy?— Dee Borries A: Microsoft offers a free program called “Windows Easy Transfer” on Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers. Itmakes the process of moving files from an old computer (with XP, Vista or even another Windows 7 machine) to a new one pretty, well, easy.

XP and Vista usersmust download the software at Microsoft’s site, right here: bit.ly/WindowsEasyTransfer.

You’ll also need to choose how to physicallymove files from one PC to another. One option is to buy a “Windows Easy Transfer Cable,” which costs $7 to $20.

But a better option is to link computers over your home network. Home networks can connect all the computers in the house through a router.

If that’s confusing, use the “sneaker network,” by plugging in a hard drive (or USB key) to old PC, copy files over, and then plug the same drive into the new PC.

TheWindows Easy Transfer offers a wizard to lead you through the process. It’ll ask which files you want to transfer— such as user accounts, e-mail and photos— and it moves them to your transfer method of choice (cable vs. network). You cannot transfer programs.

As for Windows 8, Microsoft offers a free tool called PCmover Express to move files from versions as old as XP and Vista, and transfer them to Windows 8 and 8.1machines. Details are available at http://bit.ly/PCMover.

Windows 10, expected in late 2015, will offer some way for users to move old files to newmachines. But itmay be limited to Windows 7 and newer. According to Microsoft, “As with every version of Windows, our goal is to provide an easy, frictionless upgrade. We plan tomake it possible to upgrade from either Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1.”

— Tamara Chuang,