Anyone Use Windows Easy Transfer?

[muzicman82]

Hello all,

I recently got in a Dell Precision M6500 system. After using it for about a week, I finally have it all set up with all of my software and such... only to find out that Windows Firewall is broken. The service won't start, and I'm not getting anywhere fixing it. I honestly always disable it, but when I went to do that, I couldn't as it was already broken. The problem with this scenario is that some networking features aren't working.

I'm ready to clean install AGAIN. I don't mind doing this as I have that routine down to a science. I was just wondering if Windows Easy Transfer actually works well for backing up program settings and configurations... especially Outlook and the rest of Microsoft Office 2010.

If anyone wants to take a stab at my Firewall problem, I posted that on the TechNet Forums. I looked around here and didn't see anything either.

 

[MacGyvr]

Yes, I use it a couple times a week for customers. It does an excellent job.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I never use it, and always suggest people avoid it as well. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. The point is, why would I ever want some software app to guess at what's important to me, rather than making that choice myself? Backing up my own data for a reformat/reinstall has to be one of the easiests tasks anyone can do on a computer. You know what's important to you, where you store your files, etc....so don't let some software app try and decide.

 

[muzicman82]

I never use it, and always suggest people avoid it as well. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. The point is, why would I ever want some software app to guess at what's important to me, rather than making that choice myself? Backing up my own data for a reformat/reinstall has to be one of the easiests tasks anyone can do on a computer. You know what's important to you, where you store your files, etc....so don't let some software app try and decide.

Well, I have used it before, and it does give you options as far as what to backup and restore. I mainly want to use it for settings, not files and data. I use Acronis for that. Since Microsoft ditched the Office settings backup/restore tool, this is kind of my only shot at that.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Honestly, in the time it would take me to run Easy Transfer, I can just pop the settings back into Outlook.

 

[muzicman82]

Honestly, in the time it would take me to run Easy Transfer, I can just pop the settings back into Outlook.

I know what you mean. I do it quickly. I just have something like 5x e-mail accounts with some very strange settings.. and tons of other preferences tweaked to my liking. There's also Word, Excel, Visio, and PowerPoint prefs I like to keep. I also keep Outlook PSTs in a different location than custom, so moving, deleting, re-linking is a pain.

Maybe I'll try it and report back.

 

[DeaconFrost]

There's no harm in backing up your data and trying it. I used to have wild Outlook configs, but it led me to greatly simplify the way I used e-mail. I also did away with offline accounts and .pst files. Switching to IMAP was the best decision I ever made. For my personal accounts, I use WLM, and it syncs across three computers for me, so I actually have nothing to back up anymore. I stopped using Outlook for personal accounts, as WLM gives me contacts and a calendar as well.

 

[muzicman82]

There's no harm in backing up your data and trying it. I used to have wild Outlook configs, but it led me to greatly simplify the way I used e-mail. I also did away with offline accounts and .pst files. Switching to IMAP was the best decision I ever made. For my personal accounts, I use WLM, and it syncs across three computers for me, so I actually have nothing to back up anymore. I stopped using Outlook for personal accounts, as WLM gives me contacts and a calendar as well.

I use Outlook solely with IMAP accounts. Some of the accounts are Google Apps Gmail accounts, and I have Outlook set up nicely to replicate everything I do there online and vice versa. I use Soocial for Contact sync and I also have Calendar sync. The workflow is very nice when it comes to using an Android phone. IMAP used to suck with Outlook. It got much better with Outlook 2007 and 2010.

 

[Imperfect1]

I've used it, with disappointing results. The good news was that it didn't actually cause any harm, but the bad news was that many of my settings and customizations didn't 'transfer' -- and I had to reset them all over again. If you're going to use it, before you do so, take some time to make note of (and even write down) some of your most important settings --- particularly the ones you don't think you'll remember. Because once they're gone, you might very well forget exactly what options you had set.

 

[richc46]

When I went from Vista to Seven, I wanted to test easy transfer, using a finger drive. I made a second account in Vista and transferred everything to the new user account. I was very surprised and satisifed. Everything transferred over, desktop, settings, favorites, documents. The only warning, if I had a virus or other problem, it would have tranferred over, too.

 

[MacGyvr]

I never use it, and always suggest people avoid it as well. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. The point is, why would I ever want some software app to guess at what's important to me, rather than making that choice myself? Backing up my own data for a reformat/reinstall has to be one of the easiests tasks anyone can do on a computer. You know what's important to you, where you store your files, etc....so don't let some software app try and decide.

First, I can tell you it works...I use it ALL the time for customers moving PCs around.

Second, It doesn't "guess" at anything. It moves the entire user profile, including hidden settings, etc. You can also go into an advanced mode where you can pick and choose what to move.

Windows Easy Transfer is super-simple and does exactly what it's supposed to do with no problems.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Second, It doesn't "guess" at anything. It moves the entire user profile, including hidden settings, etc. You can also go into an advanced mode where you can pick and choose what to move.

I'm sure I could come up with data on my system that I normally back up that Easy transfer wouldn't get. If you do enough end user support, you'll learn that even non-tech savy people tend to store files all over the place.

Given how simple it is to plug in an external drive and copy my data off myself, I still don't get why anyone would need extra software or trust it. You'll find as many people claiming it doesn't work...as those who say it does....so why take that chance?

 

[bobtran]

Windows easy transfer works quite well.....as long as you remember the things it doesn't do.
It doesn't move the apps themselves just the profiles and custom settings.
It doesn't get all apps, but it does get about 90% of common ones.

The way I use it is:
If running xp then download WET from Microsoft download. It is already included in Vista.
Run Win easy transfer (choose old computer) Back up everything (all your profiles).
copy the backup to a safe location.
Install Win7.
Install your apps
Copy your backup onto the new machine.
Run Win7 easy transfer (choose new machine) and restore the backup.
The report at the end will tell you if you missed any apps, just install them and re-run the easy transfer again to get the ones you missed imported.

If you keep its limits in mind it is a very good product.
I have used it to upgrade from XP and from Vista and it worked just fine for both. saves a lot of time doing basic configuration.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I think that's part of the difference in opinions. When I create a new computer, I don't want settings from the old one coming to the new one. A new computer, for me, is just that....new. Windows 7 doesn't need a lot of tweaks of customizations to run the best way. I also simplified my digital life by storing my data in an organized fashion on a data drive, and using WLM 2011 to handle both of my personal e-mail accounts, both of which are IMAP, so nothing needs to be backed up or moved over.

 

[bobtran]

I think that's part of the difference in opinions. When I create a new computer, I don't want settings from the old one coming to the new one. A new computer, for me, is just that....new. Windows 7 doesn't need a lot of tweaks of customizations to run the best way. I also simplified my digital life by storing my data in an organized fashion on a data drive, and using WLM 2011 to handle both of my personal e-mail accounts, both of which are IMAP, so nothing needs to be backed up or moved over.

Then just move your profile and not the app profiles. What gets moved is entirely up to you. Me personally, I like to keep my personal profile the same from machine to machine including the same password, user-id, etc, it keeps my home network working better and saves me from having to redo all my shortcuts, bookmarks, etc.

But that is the point isn't it.....We are all free to go about the process in our own way and customize what we want and don't want. By the way....WET does not copy OS tweaks to the new machine so the Windows 7 install IS new and clean.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Me personally, I like to keep my personal profile the same from machine to machine including the same password, user-id, etc, it keeps my home network working better and saves me from having to redo all my shortcuts, bookmarks, etc.

I do this as well, but the accounts are set up during the install process, so I don't need WET to do so. It would already be complete long before I'd even get to using WET. My shortcuts change for each system, based on the usage of the system. My corporate laptop has software on it that isn't present on my home tower, and vice versa. My test tower at home has all different software/shortcuts on it than my primary home system, even though the user accounts are the same. That's why I see no reason to use some automated wizard, despite how configurable it may be. It is always easier, and much more thorough to just move and backup what's important to me.

As for Favorites, I use Live Mesh to keep them synced across all three systems I use regularly.

 

[zdoe]

but is there a way to force WET to read the settings from a non-booting system, e.g. win-partition that's not currently running? say, your mobo died.

deaconFrost - see your point, but my software environment is so complex that any tool that ports the program settings over is a godsend - even if it doesn't do a flawless job.

anybody use pcMover? it's attempting to do what bill should've done for us - move the apps over as well.

 

[gregrocker]

Easier to drag the active User folder to external, or to go even leaner just the active User sub-folders (Documents, Favorites, etc).

You really don't want the hidden AppData reimported as it is a corruption path into your fresh clean install.

To enjoy Win7 in its native feather-light, instantaneous state use lightweight MS Security Essentials AV or Avast 5 with the Windows 7 Firewall turned on and kept updated!

Most invaders will be caught first by the firewall.

See if Firewall is turned on in services.msc.

To try to repair your Firewall, run http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html.

If this fails to restore it, run a http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?ltr=R

Tips for getting a purrfect clean reinstall: http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/125874-re-install-windows-7-a.html#post1086729