I have a friend who just bought a new Windows 7 desktop. The store he bought it from is going to use Zinstall to move all his data and applications from the old Vista PC to the new PC, he tells me. I never heard of Zinstall before, so I did some digging. Sv550 yamaha 724 driver windows 7. This guy has Office 2007 on his old PC and doesn't have the install CDs for it. This sounds too good to be true to me, and we know what they say about that!` I've done a little digging here, at the Zinstall site, at Wikipedia, and some Google searches and see mixed comments including one from Bob in 2010 saying this doesn't work with retail versions of Office.
I assume this is still true, is that right? ` I also see comments about virtualization, but the comments I've seen have been in the context of XP to Windows 7 or 8.
The ONLY Software that Moves Your Applications, Files, and Settings! To find old CDs, previously downloaded programs, serial numbers or license codes.*.
Since this guy is moving from Vista, will the transferred apps still use virtualization? This would seem to be another negative if it does. I don't know it either, but why not let the shop do it and see what works and what doesn't? Copying 'all data' isn't bad, of course.
Personally, I find a new PC a good opportunity to download and install the latest versions of everything I ever downloaded and installed, while skipping those applications I haven't used for a long time, that turn out to be incompatible or whose functions can be done by things inside the new OS. But I can imagine your friend thinks otherwise. It would be interesting to hear your story about his experiences when it's done. Nothing better than a real-world review. He says he'll get his new PC back tomorrow, and I will certainly report back here. He has complete system images of his old system on an external hard drive, made with Norton Ghost.
He could've reinstalled Ghost and recovered all his data with a few mouse clicks, but the main thing I want to see is what happens with his software. I always do it the old fashioned way, copying my data and reinstalling my apps. Since some of my software is expensive (e.g. Office), I don't usually upgrade with each new PC. Right now I'm still using Office 2007 and MS Works 9. He'll be paying $72 to use this Zinstall procedure; I hope he gets his money's worth, but I sure have doubts. If I had to use virtualization every time I used Word for example, that wouldn't be something I'd want.
I'm still just getting bits & pieces of feedback from my neighbor who tried Z-install, but here's what I've learned so far. His old PC apparently had some form of registry corruption which Z-install transferred to the brand new Dell desktop along with all his apps. The apps were fine, but he spent a couple of weeks with tech support getting things working. To me it's a lesson on why you should be sure to save the install media and reinstall the apps the way they were intended to be installed. The trouble he had combined with the cost of $75 for the store to do the transfer are two reasons to avoid Z-install in my opinion. I purchased migration software from Zinstall. In my opinion I was ripped off to the tune of $169.00.