Firefox was recently updated and I urge all of you to upgrade to Firefox 3.5.7 for a faster, safer and more secure Web experience.

The need to transfer a user’s documents and settings is a regular occurrence in a shop like mine; a client may be upgrading from one machine to another or replacing a failing hard drive. The ability to transfer documents and settings from one computer or drive to another can be very useful. Today was a good case in point.

A local graphic arts firm brought me a laptop running Windows XP Pro (SP3) that was acting up; it exhibited display problems that were, it turned out, caused by a manufacturing defect. The screen would only display at 800 x 600 and then only in Safe Mode.

The manufacturer sent a new laptop as a warranty replacement. In fact, they sent a better model than the original. The new machine came with Vista installed on it.

When I tried to transfer the user’s documents & settings using the Vista version of the migration wizard (migwiz.exe), I found that the wizard would not run on the old laptop because this version requires 1024 x 768 resolution and won’t run without it, while the old laptop cannot display more than 800 x 600.

I found I could run the XP (SP2) version of the migwiz tool on the old machine, as it runs at the lower resolution but I wasn’t sure whether this version would perform properly in Vista. I found, however, that it could (and did); all files and settings appear to be in their proper places. I don’t know what compatibility limits there are between OS/SP (operating system/service pack) versions and migwiz versions, but have found that, when possible, it’s best to use the migwiz version on the OS disk for the destination machine. It’s also important to use the same version of migwiz on both machines.

This strategy solved a problem for me; perhaps it will for you too.

I feel like a new homeowner walking around my new house for the first time! My web designer, Janet, owner of ‘Personal Geek’ (ThePersonalGeek.com) has done a wonderful job setting up my new web space and I can hardly wait to start adding content! She set me up with a site driven by WordPress and, I have to say, I’m impressed with the power and flexibility of this web management environment. And so glad I got the right designer!