Will old software work on new computer?

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Rozmataz

Rozmataz

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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If I update and buy a new computer with Vista (or XP) will any of my old software work on it?

I have Micro Office Suite, Quickbooks as my essentials...

And how difficult is the transfer process?

I am so concerned about losing any files...

Thanks,

Roz
 
Hi

You would have to check with the vendors, for each particular product and that specific version. From 98 to Vista is a pretty big jump, and I suspect there will be problems. If they were designed for Windows 98, the programs are most likely close to 10 years old. It may be worthwhile to consider an upgrade to the latest and greatest versions.

From a legal standpoint, in most cases the license is for one pc only and cannot be transferred to another; so that may be worth considering too. This is especially the case with "OEM" versions, which come bundled with new pc's.

You would need to install the programs from the original cd's, but the data could be backed up and copied over (documents, quicken records, etc)

The good news is if you do update to the current version of these products, they'll most likely have no problem using the data created from the old version.

Mike
 
Mike,

Thanks - you are the Best!!

The search continues... I just printed your thread about processors... and the pros and cons... there is so much to consider - I am surely confused!!

Roz
 
RozR said:
If I update and buy a new computer with Vista (or XP) will any of my old software work on it?

I have Micro Office Suite, Quickbooks as my essentials...

And how difficult is the transfer process?

I am so concerned about losing any files...

Thanks,

Roz
Click to expand...


There is a difference between XP and Vista. If you go with Vista you will definitely neeed to upgrade Quickbooks to the 2007 (or 2008) version.

Although older versions of Office will operate under Vista there are annoying glitches. If you check the MS site they describe the issues. I found it too annoying and it was better to go to Office 2007.

Conversion is straightforward. Obviously make sure you have (duplicate) backup(s) so that you can revert if you run into unusual problems. But this is normal practice with any upgrade.
 
You will definitely have problems with your older programs if you go to Vista. XP Pro won't be a problem at all, and I think you'd like it much better than Vista. Probably the only older programs that will work with Vista are your Microsoft programs. I've just gone through this process and it is very expensive. Many of my utilities simply won't work with Vista.

When you "move into" your new computer, you can move your old hard drive to the new computer, configure it as your master drive with your new hard drive being configured as a "slave". Then Western Digital (as well as most other hard drive manufacturers) provide free programs (Western Digital's is called DataLifeguard) which will move all your programs and data to your new drive. It's a simple process, just takes some time. When this is done, you'll remove your old hard drive and re-configure your new hard drive as the "master". Then you'll be up and running the exact configuration you had on your old computer.

Then, assuming you want to upgrade operating systems, you can then purchase an XP Pro upgrade (don't buy Home and Student - it won't work to upgrade W98) and upgrade your operating system to Windows XP Pro. All your old programs will work properly and you'll have a much more stable OS, although not Vista.

If you want to go straight to Vista, count on purchasing new programs, just make sure you back up your data and then restore your data to the new Vista drive.
 
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