My wife is thinking of getting a new pc. How do i transfer all of her files to the new pc? Can i simply back up her files on a usb drive & then plug the usb drive into her new pc & that will transfer the files?
You can do this with personal files (office documents, music, photos etc).
Make sure you look in ALL her personal folders as there could be personal files in any of them (folders such as Documents, Photos, Music, Videos, Downloads also the Desktop folder etc). Make sure you copy her browser favorites as well.
If she uses a program to look at her emails (Office Outlook for example) then her emails may all be stored on the old computer so make sure you copy those across as well.
It may be best to start using a web based email system (Webmail) like Gmail or Office.com on the new computer as then all the emails are stored on the company servers (Google, Microsoft etc) so nothing stored down on your own PC. Far less "setup" when using Webmail, and this means you can logon to your email on any computer anywhere in the world.
Also make a note of any logon details, passwords, and so on so they can be used on the new computer.
Note however you cant move programs / applications. They need to be reinstalled from scratch on the new computer.
Also make sure you COPY the files to the usb drive and dont MOVE them. If you do a COPY then if any thing goes wrong you still have the original on the old computer. If you do a MOVE and anything goes wrong you will have lost them off the old computer.
If you plan to sell or give away the old computer make sure you clear all personal files off the hard disk first.
DONT sell or give away the old computer till you are sure everything is working on the new computer. You may have forgotten something on the old computer but if you have already sold it then it may be too late to recover it.