If you are buying or replacing a personal computer, you may be wondering how you will be able to transfer all those expensive programs and games that you've been using on your old computer. Over time, computer users tend to accumulate a great deal of software from a variety of sources. You may have purchased your old computer already including software that you like, but unfortunately this software is not included with your new unit. Or you may have installed software from an online source or a disk that is no longer available. Whatever the reason is that you want to transfer your favorite software over, it is possible to transfer software from one computer to another. Here are some ways to do that:

Using an external drive

One of the most obvious ways to transfer software from one computer to another is to copy the software from the old computer to an external hard drive or flash drive. Before doing so, you will want to make sure that the drive has enough capacity to hold the software files so that you don't lose any critical components when adding it to the new computer. You may want to use a web-based drive to store the programs as well for ease in accessing them to download them onto your new machine once this process is completed. This is the most time consuming of the methods.

Drag and drop method

If you have the ability to link the hard drives of each of your computers via USB cables, then the easiest way to transfer software from one computer to another is by doing so, then dragging the original downloaded software files from one hard drive to another. However, be advised that if you have ever removed a portion of the software from the original computer, you may not be able to do this correctly. It is best to get someone who is experienced with computers to handle this process for you, if at all possible, to avoid any problems. You also will need to allow your new computer to upload each software file and then re-install it to the new machine, all of which will take some time.

Software transferring application

There are several software transferring applications available on the market, such as 'PC Mover' that can find then copy all the software files from your old machine, then re-install them onto your new computer. This software can be attained relatively inexpensively, less than the cost of taking your computer to an IT support person to do this task. Once you have the software copied, then you will also benefit from having a permanent backup of the software in case of a system crash.

If done carefully, you can easily transfer software from one computer to another by using one or more of the options mentioned above. Be sure to consult with a qualified computer technician if you experience any problems or need additional help.