Hi, wonder if any of the IT people out there can advise about transferring stuff from an old laptop to a new machine.
My daughter had just had some programs loaded to help with her dyslexia which basically brought her old laptop to its knees. So she has a new machine and I have been told it is possible to transfer the program without having to get someone to come and install it again. I know these things can be done with phones now, so it seems likely that it might be possible with a computer. Both run Windows 10.

THANKS!

as a rule of thumb, you generally can’t transfer programs unless they’re very basic. You’ll need to run the installer.

That said, Windows 10’s ‘official’ replacement for the old Easy Transfer Wizard (which copies data) is PCmover, and the paid-for version claims to be able to transfer programs.

http://pcmoverfree.azurewebsites.net/

Disclaimer, I’ve never tried it.

Don’t you have installation media for the software / download links and licence keys? Having to “get someone out” every time you need to (re)install something sounds like a licence to print money to me.

OP I have limited Windows experience but when we tried to do this recently we found certain third-party software programmes would not work after we transfered them. As per Cougar’s comments they had to be re-installed using the original CD which fortunately the owner found.

Others more knowledgeable than me might want to comment but possibly if you took the hard drive out of the old laptop and connected it to the new one via a usb caddy it may be able to run the programmes. In any case this is an inferior solition to just getting them reinstalled.

Apple gets around this by having a central “app store” from which you buy stuff and then if you change machines you can just download it again. Perhaps this piece of software has such an online “store” / rescource database ?

The new Windows Store apps should automatically install on the new machine. I haven’t done it for a long time, but from what I remember, you go to the Windows Store and click on a “Show Apps I Own” button, or something like that.

Regular Windows programs that are installed from a CD or downloaded installer will not transfer like that. You need to install them manually. Some of them may need to be deactivated from the old machine before you can activate them on the new one. As long as you have the installation media and serial numbers, it’s just a matter of sitting down for a couple of hours and setting it all up.

What’s the program? Does the company have a web site?

How competent are you with opening computers? What was the old machine OS?

If both machines run 2.5″ HDD’s then you could just swap the old drive into the new machine. I’ve done this successfully with several Win7 machines.

Another alternative is to take a clone of the old laptop using acrois or similar and load onto new laptop. You would have to deal with lots of driver issues though

You would have to deal with lots of driver issues though

Everytime i’ve done this, windows just sorts itself out driver-wise.

Step back from the it support desk folks… It does not need to involve screwdrivers….

Just let us know what the program is, did you buy it or was it free? Did you get any installation discs with it?

drivers are much better these days with transplanted drives. If you’re changing cpu architecture (AMD <-> Intel) though, you’re going to have a bad day.

If both machines run 2.5″ HDD’s then you could just swap the old drive into the new machine.

This might cause problems with Windows activation, depending on whether the two machines are running exactly the same version of Windows or not. Also, some programs are activated for a specific hardware configuration (i.e. registered to a specific machine). If that’s the case, then it’ll probably be much easier to just deactivate it on the old machine and reinstall.

I did wonder about that, but as both are W10 it should be ok. I think.

If the program is registered to the pc though, you’re right, you’re going to have problems.

Software is Dragon Speak – going to get my daughter to contact installer. I suspect it was downloaded and as she has paid for it must be a key. Thanks for the thoughts

Dragon will have a licence key. You should be able to get that from the existing installation (in About or Help).
As for installing on the new machine, that might be using a DVD or a download from a website. How was it installed on the existing one? The new installation then needs the licence key entering.

Thanks. Will try and find more detail

http://www.nuance.co.uk/support/dragon-naturallyspeaking/index.htm

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For help with product/sales inquiries, activation, registration, licensing, returns and use of your Nuance product please call +44 (0)20 3027 4217.

Dragon will have a licence key. You should be able to get that from the existing installation (in About or Help).

I can potentially check tonight, my OH uses it.