I don't know if this is amazing or not!

I'm still using a Compaq Presario #4508 with windows 95. Even my NEC monitor is still working. This 15 year old computer did everything I wanted to do, until now. It only has 24MB of memory and doesn't even meet the system requirements to upgrade to Windows 98. A memory key I purchased for $100, sits idle because it requires at least Windows 98 to be used. New computers purchased, were given to family members(taking advantage of an employee computer purchase program). Reason being, my computer was trouble free and I didn't want to risk losing the Prog21 blackjack simulator that Roger Harris let anyone download.

I've purchased another simulator, but when the dealer's hand showed a total of 40 once, I couldn't trust the results I was getting. The Prog21 simulator was always fast and accurate and I didn't want to chance losing it, transferring it to another computer. Although its use is limited, it has taught me a great deal and will always be a highlight in my playing career.

Is there a chance I could lose it while trying to transfer it?
Thanks.

and know not eally of what I speak, but could you not email the programme and then download it onto your new computer ?

I am guessing you don't have a CD/DVD rewriter to put the programme on and that it is too big for a floppy ?

make an exact copy of everything on that hard drive to a partition on the hard drive of your new computer. Many computer manufacurers will send a tech to your home to do the work for you for a fee. (You can include this as part of your purchase package when buying a new Dell for example).

As long as you keep the program in the old computer, the program won't be damaged if you try to copy over to a new computer. You can use floppy disk, CD-Rom, Zip drive,etc. to copy the files over. If possible, just copy the exact file(s) you downloaded to your old computer. Then double-click the file in the new computer to install it. This initiates a setup (installation) process which not involves file generation, registering in the windows registry, etc. Then test it. Some programs don't need installation process. You just copy over all the files to a new computer and put them in the exact folders. Then double-click the main file (the one with .exe extension.) See if it works. If it doesn't work, you can still run the program in your old computer. No harm to try. Good luck.

North Wind,

If your new computer has enough room, you can always install the hard drive from your old computer as a second hard drive in your new computer. I have done this a few times, to avoid having to transfer large amounts of data when upgrading.

Dog Hand

Is it that memory key thingy? ;-) If that's the reason, you shouln't have any trouble transferring your program to Win 98 or Win 98SE. I understand some programs won't make the leap to XP.

I think Microsoft hit their stride with 98SE. I'm putting off an XP upgrade to ze last possible minute. Stay away from ME. Stay away from hp/Compaq -- I think they're worse than eMachines.

I still have a 350 Mhz Win98 abs computer. No proprietary parts/gumware. I hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and the only thing it shows is Explorer and Systray. 98% system resources available. Gotta love it.

In general, I agree with Titan5's advice.

OTOH, if your Presario is broken (OS or HD), there is some danger of losing your program, if it isn't backed up.

You can get a 98SE machine, 1 ghz, monitor, CDRW, 40 gig HD, floppy, all the bells and whistles, for around $235+S&H on eBay. What a country!

ETF

that internet service providers keep raising your system requirements to get the full benefit of their systems and also anything you buy thats computer related today, usually requires higher standards.

Thanks to you and all the others for the suggestions.

I'll bet that the casinos would like to trash every players computer.
They're going to find it harder and harder to find fools to fleece.

Buy your new computer. Open up your old computer, remove the 2-4 phillips screws that hold in your old hard drive. Disconnect the power (4 wire) cable and the IDE data cable (ribbon cable about 1.5" wide.

Open up your new computer. Almost all machines have two IDE channels. Your problem is figuring out where to install your old drive in the new system. Here are a couple of possibilities:

1. You have two IDE channels, your hard drive is on one, your CDrom/DVD drive is on the other. In this case both those devices are set up as "master" devices. Look at the hard drive you removed and look for some removable jumpers, normally on the end near the power/data connectors. One will be labeled master/slave, or slv, or mst, or something similar. If there is a jumper in that position, remove it. This will make the device a slave. Some disks have two positions for a jumper, one position for master, one for slave. Since you already have one IDE device on each channel, both should be master, so you need a slave device setting. Now connect this device to the power and data cable used by the installed hard drive. When you turn your computer back on, you should see a new disk sitting there and it will have all your old files.

2. You might find a system with one IDE channel used for your hard drive (master drive) and CDRom drive (slave drive). In this case you can either disconnect your CDRom drive temporarily, set the old disk to "slave" and connect it in place of the CDRom, or you can remove the old IDE cable from your old machine, and use it to connect the old hard drive to your new machine's secondary IDE channel (it will be an empty connector on the motherboard, right beside the primary IDE channel connector with a cable going to your existing disk drives.

One of those two will work, to give you access to the old data and programs. You can then copy whatever you want to your new hard drive, including old .doc files, executable files, saved emails, and whatever else you might have. You can either keep the old drive in the new machine if you have room in the cabinet to mount the drive with the phillips screws you removed earlier, or you can remove the old drive once you have copied everything you want. If you have room, may as well keep it installed as it is "free space" and you could use that to make duplicate copies of important files as a cheap backup solution.

I'm not sure that the 400 MB hard drive will add much to the 80 GB or so HD the new system will have, but it will save some trouble with moving files around. I've done it before when upgrading from an obsolete system without a very good way to transfer files too large for a floppy drive. In fact, I usually cannibalize as much as possible (old monitor becomes a second monitor, memory comes off, etc). Hell, my new system has a combo 3 1/2 - 5 1/4 floppy drive that's been on two previous systems. The color doesn't match, but otherwise it's fine.

Maybe it's just me, but I like to have a working pc in reserve. And if I remember right, the program he wants to transfer is an old DOS program. Probably 20-30k to transfer. Throw it on a floppy...

ETF