Chapter 10. Configuring a New PC

Introduction: Hacks #95-100

You're wondering how the heck to get all the "stuff" from the old PC to the new one. Unless you've got all of the installation disks for your software and want to reinstall all of it—and have backed up datafiles to another tape, CD, disk, or network—you've got a big chore ahead.

The next series of hacks presents applications you can use to copy files, settings, and even some applications from one PC to another.

Previous chapters showed you dozens of ways to tune up a PC, and of course you'll apply the most appropriate hacks to this new PC. You built it, configured it, got it set up just the way you like it, and you probably don't want all that work on your new PC to go to waste. The programs and data you work with are invaluable to your life and your occupation. Leaving them and your whole PC at risk makes as much sense as leaving your car or home unlocked in a high-crime neighborhood. The Internet is as much a "friendly global village" as it is a seething hotbed of malicious activity covering everything from questionable marketing methods to multimillion dollar identity theft and fraud scams.

In my anxiety to tinker with fresh PC installations, I have let unprotected Linux and Windows systems connect to the Internet and subsequently come under attack or become infected within a matter of seconds. It is not a pretty or pleasant sight. An essential part of setting up a new PC is making sure it becomes and stays safe and ...

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