My laptop took a crap. I lost 1/3 of the screen. Is there anything special I need to know about backing up files on an external drive to transfer them to a new computer? Picking up the new laptop tomorrow. Going from Windows 7 to Windows 10. I should just be able to have Windows 7 do the automatic backup to a thumb drive or SD card and then upload the files in the new computer correct? Files are mostly pics and word documents. As far as Norton and Microsoft office, I just need to contact them and transfer the subscription to the new IP address? Anything else I'm missing?

Are you buying from a computer store? A lot of times they will transfer your files to the new computer for you.

I'm getting it from Best Buy. Nothing fancy, a basic laptop.

Best buy can do it for you if you want, otherwise just get a USB thumb drive or external hard drive and copy over what you want. Suggest if you do that to keep the old one for a period of time just in case you miss anything.

 

The Norton and Office subscriptions should be able to be added to the new computer during setup, its not by IP address since those change. This is another thing Best Buy can help with.

Forgot to mention, one advantage of doing the USB external hard drive is you can use it once of a month for backups. Just connect it, run the backup process, then disconnect and store it in a safe place. If you get a failed drive later at least you have most of it saved.