I’ve had multiple Windows NT and XP testbed systems, but nothing convinced me to switch my bread-and-butter productivity computer beyond flavors of Windows 98. I upgraded that computer to death -- adding hard disks, other drives, and RAM, and upgrading CPUs, other hardware components, and endless software as necessary. Finally I hit tilt and switched to a new computer. When I did, I sought a professional migration tool to salvage some of my remaining sanity.

I first researched CheckIt FastMove, an earlier version of which was in my software library. Unfortunately, according to its Web site, it still only migrates documents, not executable programs and settings. As for other desktop power users, that didn’t offer much more than I could do myself -- and without dealing with a new app. FastMove now supports Windows 95 through Windows XP. But unlike competitors, it doesn’t even include a cable to connect computers. You can buy a cable separately from the software vendor or supply your own. Alternately, you can use removable drives (such as CD-ROMs), but you can do the same yourself without the product. Still, if migrating only documents is your goal, you might welcome the help from FastMove. As the Web site notes, FastMove now mostly positions itself as a tool for routine backups.. So I moved on.

EZ Datalink from SyNET Electronics impressed me with its inviting, intuitive user interface, fast data transfer rate, and two cables that support USB 1.1 and 2.0. Also, unlike competitors I considered, this is the only ballgame in town if you need to link Windows 95 or later and Mac OS 8.5 and later computers -- any combination of such PCs and Macs. Still, it’s limited to transferring only documents. I have multiple alternatives for accessing Mac documents (your mileage may vary), so again I moved on.

That left mostly a dead heat between Alohabob PC Locator from Eisenworld and Pcmover from long-time industry leader Laplink Software.Both support Windows 95 and later. A main difference is that PC Locator ships with a parallel-port cable, while PCmover ships with a much faster USB 1.1 (compatible with USB 2.0) cable. Alohabob PC Locator’s pricing starts at $29.95, while PCmover starts at $39.95.

My biggest beef these days is that personal desktop PC-to-PC migration products no longer magically do everything. Consider attempts to port Microsoft Office apps, which now require “activation.” My experience is that porting such apps tends to whine loudly regardless of migration strategy. But both Alohabob PC Locator and PCmover are the best alternatives on the market. Alternately, for my money, if your old and new computers support the identical operating system and version, the wise solution may be to begin with a disk-cloning product such as Acronis True Disk, previously reviewed in this column.

Regardless of your migration strategy, avoid temptation and first purge your aging computer of documents and apps that you’ll likely never use again or will upgrade during migration. Why populate your new computer with content you’ll seldom revisit? Consider the financial, time, and other costs of backups, defragmenting hard disks, and the myriad other realities of everyday requirements, such as the growing background resource demands of security-related products. Personally, I zapped gigabytes of ancient content and am gradually migrating it to my new productivity machine only when needed. Meanwhile, I keep my former primary computer around for when (rapidly increasingly rarely) I need some of its data -- like dormant exchanges with my editors.

J.W. Olsen has been a full-time IT author, columnist, editor, and freelance book project manager with more than 1000 editorial credits since 1990, and has provided computer, Web site, and editorial services to other clients since 1985. He welcomes feedback via the email response form at www.jwolsen.com.