owsley
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transferring programs to a new computer
I am going to buy a new tower running Win98. I am currently running Win 95. I have an internal Seagate 4gb backup tape drive. I intend to install this drive into the new tower and then try to load Four years worth of programs (many of which are shareware downloads). Can I do this and what problems can I expect? Len
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unless I'm misunderstanding and you actually have the setup files for these programs in which case, you'll be fine
I agree with sorgie. It depends on what you've backed up and are trying to load. If you've backed up the install files(setup.exe) and the documents that you've created with them, you should be fine. You DO of course have to reinstall these programs(hopefully all win98 compatible) and then replace the files you've created.
On the other hand if you did a backup where it essentially made a copy of your directory tree and the files within it, restoring that onto the new computer is pretty dangerous, especially if you choose to overwrite existing directories, or even if you don't.
What I would do is just back up files you've created(documents,excel spreadsheets, pictures, mp3's) and setup files(these are the only 2 things that ever need to be backed up) for all the shareware and restore these to the new computer and then reinstall everything.
On the other hand if you did a backup where it essentially made a copy of your directory tree and the files within it, restoring that onto the new computer is pretty dangerous, especially if you choose to overwrite existing directories, or even if you don't.
What I would do is just back up files you've created(documents,excel spreadsheets, pictures, mp3's) and setup files(these are the only 2 things that ever need to be backed up) for all the shareware and restore these to the new computer and then reinstall everything.
The programs will work fine unless they require a registry entry in which case, they wont have one and wont function well if at all. Some smaller programs like shareware games and such don't require registry entries and will be fine. In the case of programs like Winzip or similar which could be downloaded again easily, you would be much better off doing so.