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W.

Having just finished the XP-Pro to WIN7-Pro(64) process on three machines, let me describe my method for data and programs (BTW I only had three very old programs [pre-win95] that would not run on the new 64bit Machines).
A. Preparation
First – make a list of application you use, Divide this list into two sections “A. Installed” and “B. Portable”
Second – Make a list of “Data Storage” Folders you want to keep.
Third – Locate copies of installation files for all the installed apps.
Forth – Make a HDD clone of old machine to external storage.
B. Set-up and Data move
First – set-up New Windows machine with user accounts you desire then connect to Internet.
Second – Allow machine to update OS and pre-installed Applications.
Third – Uninstall any pre-installed cruft you don’t want.
Forth – Check your HDD for size and partition layout ({my systems have 1TB HDD’s} so I shrank the C: partition to 250 GB and set the remainder to a D: partition. Reason Programs and OS on C:, Data & Storage on D: makes backup management easier.)
Fifth – Make sure Both Machines have different names and all drives on the XP machine are Shared at the “Root” level. You can also share the Win7 Drives if you so desire so you can later work from either machine.
Sixth – Via LAN Connection, Copy Portable Applications from XP machine to Win7 Machine. Copy Data Files from XP Machine to Win7 Machine. Make sure all portable apps are set up to save Data in the correct location if you moved data from C: to D:
Seventh – Install You other apps from their installation files. Make sure to set them up to save data on your Data storage Disk.
Eighth – Turn “Root” Sharing Off on both Machines and set sharing to the folders you want.
Ninth – Make a baseline Clone of your Win7 HHD to external storage.
Tenth – Tweak and enjoy your Win7 and XP Machines until April 2014 then disconnect the XP machine from the internet.

My friend’s laptop has XP with SP3 and all updates installed.

What does she need to do to avoid having to click her User Name when the laptop is booted and every time when she returns to it with the screensaver showing after a period of inactivity?

Advice would be appreciated.

Thanks and regards,Roy

Please, talk your friend out of this idea.

A laptop with no user account security, should the laptop go missing any one finding it has full access to all data on the machine, including any auto-login to websites with the “remember me” option checked. ID theft waiting to happen.

If her reason is, “Its to hard for me to remember the password”, you should be even more concerned since she may forget the laptop. Set the login password to something easy for her to remember like “(-royismy1gotoguy”-)”.

I’ve recently noticed that while switching between programs (Alt-Tab) there’s an unidentified icon in the list (see arrow in photo).
Neal

Instead of using task manager try running Process Explorer from Sysinternals (here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals) this shows app icons in the process pane.

Unless an individual is running that app or has seen that icon before any guess is a dice shoot, It could be blocks (debugger), multiple desktops, some kind of Firewall/monitoring/av app, just about anything

Wish you luck with finding out, of course it will be face/palm when you do.

I retired from active duty in 1992, we had apps and spreadsheets way back then to do these calcs. Why the heck are we re-inventing the wheel? I was always taught, train your people, teach them what you know, then they can spend time learning new things not wasting time re-learning old stuff. Someone has fallen down on their job.

Move your Profile To A Network Drive
Install Thunderbird separately on each computer but store your profile on a network file share. To launch This method to sync Thunderbird email requires that you have access to a shared / network drive. This is the most convenient method in the long run. However, it involves moving your existing profile to that drive, which can be tricky.

First make sure Show hidden files and folders is on. Close Thunderbird. Now copy the profile folder to the desired location on the network drive.

In Win7 you will find your Thunderbird profile under > C:UsersAppDataRoamingThunderbirdProfiles
If you do not see the “AppData” folder, that’s because it’s hidden. Make sure Show hidden files and folders is on.

Once the profile has arrived in its new location, go to > “C:UsersAppDataRoamingThunderbird” and open the profiles.ini file in a text editor.

This file lists all profiles registered with your installed Thunderbird. Locate the one you just moved and change the > Path= line to the new location, for example > Path=”E:Thunderbird Profilexxxxxxx.default”. Make sure to change > IsRelative=1 to > IsRelative=0 in case you switch from a relative to a non-relative path. Also, the direction of slashes in the path will change from “/” (relative) to “” (non-relative).

Make this change to the profiles.ini file on each computer Thunderbird is installed on. Once all machines are working correctly clean up the profiles on the C: drives by deleting the xxxxxxx.default file.

The only drawback I see to this method is there might be some issues if T-Bird is running on multiple machines and more than one machine tries to check and update mail at the same time. I have not tested this so I’m not sure of the effects of data collision.

A Mozilla Help article is here
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Synchronizing_mail_on_two_computers_%28Thunderbird%29

How do I get Yr, mos, day return from a cell with only yrs or mos or days?
Ex:
A1=894 days or 29 mos or 2.45 yrs
I want B1 to return 2 yrs, 5 mos, 10 days

I realize I need more decimal points [example] in days and months or I will only get an approximate. I just need the formula to get me started.
I cannot use DATEDIF [ym, md], because A1 is not a period between 2 dates.
Formula for A1 is [=E23+E23*(5/12)]

Thanks

You can’t do this, since A1 is the result of a calculation, to Calc a value for B1 another value must be determined. That value is the form of the value in E23 (days, months, years) only once that is determined can the proper function/formula be applied to calculate the value of B1.

Just my nickles worth (was 2 cents but inflation has effected it).

Fred,

Great article, I only have one problem, the next version of this is going to be harder to detect due to your detailed description of the “Giveaways”. I’ll lay odds that the QA will be much tighter on the next one.

My spouse was working on some research the other day and got hit by this, the first thing was a call to me, “just shut it down” was my advice. I then ran my AV tools from linux on the USB stick to make sure the system was clean. Tightly monitored systems, user training, backups and alternate tools are the keys to Clean Systems.