I know I can come to you guys?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!

[Guest]

Well I know this is not where I should be but I have always found this forum very helpful as most of you are very experienced and smart with computers. Anyway as I have found Dell not very helpful at all I figure I will try to turn to you guys.I have a new Dell Dimension 8250 and I would like to get my files from my old computer(Win ME) into my new Dell(XP Pro). Mainly I would like to get my audio files. Anyway I have a cable connected to both ethernet ports, whatever that cable is called. So I figure I have to set up some sort of network connection. Now I am lost at this point. I don't know where to set up the connection or in what form. Please, can anyone help me out?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?Thank you soooooooooooooooooooo muchhhhhhhhhhhhhh if anyone can help!Dell Specs3.061.5 GB RAM120 GB

[Guest WorkingStiff]

Nice system specs. :-)The absolutely easiest way is to remove the hard drive from the old computer and install it in a drive bay of the new computer as the slave drive (this simply involves changing a jumper). Windows XP will recognize the new "old" drive and assign a drive letter...from that point you can simply drag and drop the files (or even drive copy) from the old drive to the new drive.But I suspect that if you're asking such a question you would not be able to do what I suggested.

[Guest]

You have to setup the networking on both computers which can be a little tricky but one thing that will stop you cold is if you use a standard ethernet cable to connect the ethernet port on one computer to the ethernet port on the other computer. You need an ethernet crossover cable to make this work. Jeff Williams (KDCA)

[gosta 0]

Setting up a network between a computer that runs XP and another that doesn't can be an absolute nightmare, so your best bet is as Mr. 'Stiff' suggested - just move over your old HD to the new computer and start copying. It should recognise it as a slave drive automatically, and the whole process will probably take you less than ten minutes. Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

[Guest RonB49]

The easiest way that I found was to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard that comes as part of WinXP. That allows you to connect the COM ports of two computers (one running XP the other running Win95, Win98, etc.) and copy files in both directions. The downside of this procedure is that it is SLOW. When I had lots of stuff to transfer, I'd set it all up and let it run all night. R-

[Guest Captain Barfbag]

If you have cable internet or DSL, then you should get a router. This is a small box that allows computers to share the internet connection, and it also connects them together into a small Local Area Network, or LAN. Another advantage of a router is that it acts as a hardware firewall, making your computers far less visible to outside hackers.I got a Linksys router for $50 on sale at Best Buy. The instructions are simple, and mostly it was plug-and-play. I had set up a peer-to-peer connection with an ethernet crossover cable earlier, but this was much easier to do.The other advantage? When my daughter is "doing her homework" (which looks suspiciously like The Sims) on MY machine, I can at least log on to AVSIM forums...