Getting a new PC tomorrow, I'm a little nervous

[Jezza819]

I'm picking up a new PC for home use tomorrow to replace my 12 year old one. Now that I have 3gb Google Fiber internet I wanted something that was more up to date to handle the increased speed, Windows 11, etc.

But I'm a little nervous as to how the switch over is going to go. I've watched a few videos on what you need to do. I've bought a hard drive and I know you're supposed to load everything on it and then reload it on the new one except for things that have installers that you're just going to have to reinstall from the internet anyway. I think I know how to move browser bookmarks over as I remember doing that when I got the current PC.

I know some of the first things I need to do on the new one is disable or uninstall One Drive and make this new device not discoverable with other devices. I learned that when I got the gaming PC and went to work the next day only to see Assetto Corsa mod files, AC shortcut, AMS2 files on my work PC desktop.

I do struggle with tech stuff which is why I'm a little nervous about this but I know it needs to be done. This old pc was giving me all sorts of problems and it was just time to replace it.

Also we have a place here that properly disposes of technological and hazardous material waste such as old computers. Once everything is off of the old one do I just need to do a factory reset of it to prep it for disposal or it there anything else I need to make sure and do?

 

[Joey D]

First off, 3 GB fiber sounds almost pornographic.

Also we have a place here that properly disposes of technological and hazardous material waste such as old computers. Once everything is off of the old one do I just need to do a factory reset of it to prep it for disposal or it there anything else I need to make sure and do?

Whenever I dispose of old hard drives, I run a drill through them to shatter the plates inside of them. I don't have anything critical on the drives, but I figure better safe than sorry. I do the same thing to my tablets and phones too. Factory resetting is probably fine for the most part, but I just worry that some tech bro is going to get bored and trying to get stuff off my drives.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

That or format the drive a few times. It's been a while so I don't remember the software to use, possibly HDDGuru. I assume Windows internal software would also do.

 

[Jezza819]

That or format the drive a few times. It's been a while so I don't remember the software to use, possibly HDDGuru. I assume Windows internal software would also do.

You mean just keep reformatting the old drive?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

You mean just keep reformatting the old drive?

Yes, but it has to be a full format that overwrites the data on the disk.

 

[Jezza819]

It's going to be delayed until tomorrow, we have heavy thunderstorms now and it's supposed to rain the rest of the night but tomorrow looks good.

 

[Jezza819]

I do have a question about moving everything from the old one to the new one. I can't remember what I did 12 years ago when I got this current one. I think I moved everything in sections, documents, pictures, programs, etc. to the hard drive then to the new one.

Is that the safest way to make sure each thing transfers instead trying to go in huge blocks or even trying the complete C: drive at one time? That seems pretty risky to me.

 

[TB]

I do have a question about moving everything from the old one to the new one. I can't remember what I did 12 years ago when I got this current one. I think I moved everything in sections, documents, pictures, programs, etc. to the hard drive then to the new one.

Is that the safest way to make sure each thing transfers instead trying to go in huge blocks or even trying the complete C: drive at one time? That seems pretty risky to me.

Granted this will be a bit different for a personal computer but when I set up a new computer for people at work, this is kind of my work flow:

• Export browser favorites
• Have them check any passwords they have saved and don't remember
  • Write them down or take pictures
• Copy everything from their desktop except for program shortcuts to an external device
• Copy everything from their Documents folder to an external device
• Do the same thing for any other folders that you have files in that you want to keep.

There really shouldn't be any need to copy the enter C: drive. There's no reason you can't, it's just most of it will be unusable.

 

[Jezza819]

Granted this will be a bit different for a personal computer but when I set up a new computer for people at work, this is kind of my work flow:

• Export browser favorites
• Have them check any passwords they have saved and don't remember
  • Write them down or take pictures
• Copy everything from their desktop except for program shortcuts to an external device
• Copy everything from their Documents folder to an external device
• Do the same thing for any other folders that you have files in that you want to keep.

There really shouldn't be any need to copy the enter C: drive. There's no reason you can't, it's just most of it will be unusable.

I've done the first one, I have a word document for all of my passwords.

Oddly enough, last night before I started to save anything, 3/4 of my desktop icons just disappeared. I restarted but they are still gone. I don't really remember what was there but I can't remember anything that couldn't be replaced.

I've moved Documents, Pictures, and Downloads over to an external hard drive. I don't think there is anything else left that needs to be moved and I think it's probably ready to be cleaned for disposal.

I did pick up the new one today. I'm going to try and get it going tonight but I'm not going to rush it.

 

[Jezza819]

I did hit a minor snag trying to move my music files over. Windows Explorer will not move or delete two folders. One is empty and the other has one album in it. Tried run as admin, same thing. My music files are copies of about 200 CD's I had and sold about 6 years ago and this one album is one that I really have never listened to again so when it gets wiped from the hard drive it's no big deal.

But Windows Explorer has been giving me trouble like this for a long time now.

 

[Jezza819]

See this is why I was nervous going into this as I knew something would go wrong.

Started the factory reset procedure yesterday afternoon. Got to the point where it said it was restarting, it hasn't come back on since. I let it sit for 14 hours still nothing. It has power and it's running but the display, keyboard and mouse do not work. The display and keyboard are dark. I've tried to hard reset it 2 or 3 times by holding in the power button but each time it will turn on but nothing else works.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

Have you tried turning the plug off at socket then pressing power on button on computer for about 10 seconds. Then turn plug back on and press power on button and see if it boots up?

 

[Jezza819]

Have you tried turning the plug off at socket then pressing power on button on computer for about 10 seconds. Then turn plug back on and press power on button and see if it boots up?

I haven't done that yet as I couldn't remember what that procedure was. But thanks for reminding me. I'll try that tonight. I just want to make sure the reset procedure went through.

I can hit the power button and it turns on, I can hear the fan running and I see the little dim light at the back. But nothing that's plugged into the motherboard (I think that's what you call it) works. Monitor, keyboard, mouse, all don't work. But it has power. Isn't the power cord also plugged into the motherboard?

 

[Jezza819]

@Saidur_Ali I did try that procedure last night but it didn't work either. So I gave up and just connected the new one.

Getting this new one up and running has been a nightmare. Apparently a lot of things has changed in the two years since I got the gaming PC. I had a word pad document that had all of my passwords and logins on it and last night it was fine. Today I opened it up and it looks like it's been changed to Korean or some other language so all of that is gone.

I uninstalled One Drive but apparently the "Pictures" folder on the PC still wants to load all photos into One Drive. There isn't just a basic "Pictures" anymore?

 

[Exorcet]

I'm a bit late to this thread, but one thing that I highly recommend for all PC users is some kind of external drive for backup files. This is extremely useful for just keeping things safe and for transferring files.

Spoiler: Backup Drive info

There are two primary form factors, a full size drive or a USB drive:

Example full size - 4TB, go down to 1-2 TB if you only have small files:

https://www.westerndigital.com/products/portable-drives/wd-my-passport-usb-3-0-hdd?sku=WDBPKJ0040BBK-WESN

USB drive - This one is 512 GB, and they don't typically go into TB size, but 128-512 GB is pretty useful:

https://shop.sandisk.com/products/usb-flash-drives/sandisk-extreme-pro-usb-3-2?sku=SDCZ880-512G-G46

You can keep your documents, photos, etc on these and easily transport them to new devices. The full size drive is more bulky obviously but harder to misplace. It's also going to be formatted for large files typically where as the USB is limited to 4GB files or less (but can be formatted to fix this issue, it's just another step).

Spoiler: Ideas for old PC's

On what to do with your old PC you can wipe it (and it looks like you've started that process) but this is not necessary. You can keep it around as a backup PC or one for visitors, or just use it as an external drive or a server. I have never disposed of a PC and most of mine are still functional. I give them to guests when I have people over, use them for file storage, and sometimes use them to run citizen research programs like Folding@Home to aid in medical research:

Folding@home – Fighting disease with a world wide distributed super computer.

foldingathome.org

F@H is also good to run if you like to keep your PC on to avoid waiting for boot up. You will pay more in electricity for running it constantly but at least it's going to a good cause.

Spoiler: Windows Changes and Accessability

Windows 11 has made a lot of changes. I find that MS changes things for no real reason and this only leads to frustration. You can undo some of their changes with programs like Open Shell:

Release 4.4.196 · Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu

What's Changed Add ARM64 support by @Mattiwatti in #641 ExplorerPatcher compatibility by @ge0rdi in #2107 Full Changelog: v4.4.195...v4.4.196 Important Note for ARM64 users Recent Windows 11 on A...

github.com

Which get rid of the ridiculous ad infested Win 11 start menu. There are also settings in Windows 11 that can be changed.

I very strongly recommend setting up Win 11 without connecting to a MS account unless you need this, but this needs to be done when you first setup the PC and MS tries very hard to hide how to do it. I can tell you how if you'd like.

Now for the problems you're currently facing, there is still a Pictures folder and you can always just make one if there isn't. I don't use One Drive but if you uninstalled it, it shouldn't be bothering you. You can try making your own folder instead and see if that works better.

On your file being in a different language, that's pretty strange. Is there some AI translation going on? I know Copilot is in the new notepad. Did you save the file after noticing that it looked different? If it was not saved then you might try opening it again.

You can download Notepad++:

Notepad++

notepad-plus-plus.org

As a more powerful, non Microsoft, text editor that is more stable than regular Notepad. See what the file looks like in that.

And while it may be too late, never ever wipe your old PC until your new one is running at 100%.


EDIT

Is the file actually in another language, or is it just random garbled nonsense? If it's the latter it might be encoded incorrectly, which Notepad++ may be able to fix. I was going to ask you to post an image, but don't want to do it with a file containing passwords to eliminate any chance of reverse engineering.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

@Saidur_Ali I did try that procedure last night but it didn't work either. So I gave up and just connected the new one.

Getting this new one up and running has been a nightmare. Apparently a lot of things has changed in the two years since I got the gaming PC. I had a word pad document that had all of my passwords and logins on it and last night it was fine. Today I opened it up and it looks like it's been changed to Korean or some other language so all of that is gone.

I uninstalled One Drive but apparently the "Pictures" folder on the PC still wants to load all photos into One Drive. There isn't just a basic "Pictures" anymore?

Maybe leaving it off for a while could fix it as it should drain power fully. Could be corrupt drive stopping computer from booting or some other faulty component. Always wise to ensure your backups are successful and new system is setup as you want before wiping your old system.

Is your gaming PC Windows 11 so should be very similar? Microsoft got rid of WordPad in latest Windows 11 version so could be your system is not opening it up on a program that supports the file format, hopefully it is not corrupt as you said it was fine last night. You can download something like LibreOffice as an alternative to open up document in.

Download LibreOffice | LibreOffice - Free and private office suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft

Download free office suite for Windows, macOS and Linux. Microsoft compatible, based on OpenOffice, and updated regularly.

www.libreoffice.org

Have you tried unlinking your OneDrive account?:

Turn off, disable, or uninstall OneDrive - Microsoft Support

Learn how to turn off or uninstall OneDrive.

support.microsoft.com

Personally, I always setup Windows 11 as a local account. I know Microsoft are doing more and more to force people to sign into Microsoft accounts with every new version. You can still switch to local account if you prefer by going on Settings - Accounts - Your info - Sign in with a local account instead.

 

[Jezza819]

I'm a bit late to this thread, but one thing that I highly recommend for all PC users is some kind of external drive for backup files. This is extremely useful for just keeping things safe and for transferring files.

Spoiler: Backup Drive info

There are two primary form factors, a full size drive or a USB drive:

Example full size - 4TB, go down to 1-2 TB if you only have small files:

https://www.westerndigital.com/products/portable-drives/wd-my-passport-usb-3-0-hdd?sku=WDBPKJ0040BBK-WESN

USB drive - This one is 512 GB, and they don't typically go into TB size, but 128-512 GB is pretty useful:

https://shop.sandisk.com/products/usb-flash-drives/sandisk-extreme-pro-usb-3-2?sku=SDCZ880-512G-G46

You can keep your documents, photos, etc on these and easily transport them to new devices. The full size drive is more bulky obviously but harder to misplace. It's also going to be formatted for large files typically where as the USB is limited to 4GB files or less (but can be formatted to fix this issue, it's just another step).

Spoiler: Ideas for old PC's

On what to do with your old PC you can wipe it (and it looks like you've started that process) but this is not necessary. You can keep it around as a backup PC or one for visitors, or just use it as an external drive or a server. I have never disposed of a PC and most of mine are still functional. I give them to guests when I have people over, use them for file storage, and sometimes use them to run citizen research programs like Folding@Home to aid in medical research:

Folding@home – Fighting disease with a world wide distributed super computer.

foldingathome.org

F@H is also good to run if you like to keep your PC on to avoid waiting for boot up. You will pay more in electricity for running it constantly but at least it's going to a good cause.

Spoiler: Windows Changes and Accessability

Windows 11 has made a lot of changes. I find that MS changes things for no real reason and this only leads to frustration. You can undo some of their changes with programs like Open Shell:

Release 4.4.196 · Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu

What's Changed Add ARM64 support by @Mattiwatti in #641 ExplorerPatcher compatibility by @ge0rdi in #2107 Full Changelog: v4.4.195...v4.4.196 Important Note for ARM64 users Recent Windows 11 on A...

github.com

Which get rid of the ridiculous ad infested Win 11 start menu. There are also settings in Windows 11 that can be changed.

I very strongly recommend setting up Win 11 without connecting to a MS account unless you need this, but this needs to be done when you first setup the PC and MS tries very hard to hide how to do it. I can tell you how if you'd like.

Now for the problems you're currently facing, there is still a Pictures folder and you can always just make one if there isn't. I don't use One Drive but if you uninstalled it, it shouldn't be bothering you. You can try making your own folder instead and see if that works better.

On your file being in a different language, that's pretty strange. Is there some AI translation going on? I know Copilot is in the new notepad. Did you save the file after noticing that it looked different? If it was not saved then you might try opening it again.

You can download Notepad++:

Notepad++

notepad-plus-plus.org

As a more powerful, non Microsoft, text editor that is more stable than regular Notepad. See what the file looks like in that.

And while it may be too late, never ever wipe your old PC until your new one is running at 100%.


EDIT

Is the file actually in another language, or is it just random garbled nonsense? If it's the latter it might be encoded incorrectly, which Notepad++ may be able to fix. I was going to ask you to post an image, but don't want to do it with a file containing passwords to eliminate any chance of reverse engineering.

Better late than never

I do have an external drive that I had everything on getting ready for the new one.

As for the old PC, I don't have the space to set the new one up and then go back to take care of the old one. The old one had to come out first and the new one goes in. So I had no choice but to try to wipe the old one first. Also I don't have the physical room to keep it around. It has to be disposed of.

The current picture file location on both Windows 11 machines is: C:\User\Myname\OneDrive\Pictures which tells me that anything I put in there will somehow still be tied to OneDrive even though I've uninstalled it. I think what I need to do is create a "Photos" folder and pin it to quick access and it will be my pictures file.

The notepad document was perfectly fine on Friday. I had it on the external drive to be installed on the new one. On Saturday I had to activate windows and after that is when I noticed the document was messed up. But it was and is still on that external drive. I haven't put it on the new PC. It does look to me to be some sort of Asian language. I did find that I have a backup on my laptop which has almost everything on it except for the most recent ones. But now I'm afraid to try and bring it over to the new PC.

Today was the first time I've used my gaming PC since getting this new home PC. Now I've turned off sharing on both of them but somehow some of the things I had to download to reinstall on the home PC are showing up also on the gaming PC. I don't understand how that's possible. How are they still talking to each other?

 

[Jezza819]

Maybe leaving it off for a while could fix it as it should drain power fully. Could be corrupt drive stopping computer from booting or some other faulty component. Always wise to ensure your backups are successful and new system is setup as you want before wiping your old system.

Is your gaming PC Windows 11 so should be very similar? Microsoft got rid of WordPad in latest Windows 11 version so could be your system is not opening it up on a program that supports the file format, hopefully it is not corrupt as you said it was fine last night. You can download something like LibreOffice as an alternative to open up document in.

Download LibreOffice | LibreOffice - Free and private office suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft

Download free office suite for Windows, macOS and Linux. Microsoft compatible, based on OpenOffice, and updated regularly.

www.libreoffice.org

Have you tried unlinking your OneDrive account?:

Turn off, disable, or uninstall OneDrive - Microsoft Support

Learn how to turn off or uninstall OneDrive.

support.microsoft.com

Personally, I always setup Windows 11 as a local account. I know Microsoft are doing more and more to force people to sign into Microsoft accounts with every new version. You can still switch to local account if you prefer by going on Settings - Accounts - Your info - Sign in with a local account instead.

Thanks for the LibreOffice suggestion, it does open it correctly. So can I save it there? Because when I tried it said I had to choose a format something called 2007 or ODF. I backed out of it since I wasn't sure what that meant.

I'll look into using a local account for Windows. It said I had to have a pin which I have no idea what it is. I'll see if I can find a video for instructions.

The other issue I've got is with the Firefox browser. On the Windows 10 machine when I went to the bookmarks button they were all there. When I imported them to the new PC apparently the Windows 11 version handles bookmarks differently. Instead of showing all of them it only shows about 10 or so "recent bookmarks" and even then they aren't recent. I have no idea why it picked them. All of them are over in the bookmarks library and for some reason they are all double listed. I want all of them to show up when I go to that bookmark selector on the right side of the screen.

 

[Exorcet]

I do have an external drive that I had everything on getting ready for the new one.

OK good, I wasn't sure if you had a maintained backup or just copied over some files for the transfer. I'd copy important files to the external drive regularly, even after the transfer.

As for the old PC, I don't have the space to set the new one up and then go back to take care of the old one. The old one had to come out first and the new one goes in. So I had no choice but to try to wipe the old one first. Also I don't have the physical room to keep it around. It has to be disposed of.

OK I see, no choice in that case.

The current picture file location on both Windows 11 machines is: C:\User\Myname\OneDrive\Pictures which tells me that anything I put in there will somehow still be tied to OneDrive even though I've uninstalled it. I think what I need to do is create a "Photos" folder and pin it to quick access and it will be my pictures file.

Yes, you can create your own Photos folder, or any folder you want. Do to permissions issues with Program Files I've maintained my own custom folders Such as

C:\Installs
C:\Downloads
etc

Though I'm typically the only one using my computer so I don't have to worry about user permissions, which are handled automatically when putting files/folders in the C:\<User>\... folders. You might want to put folders in User if other people may use the PC:

C:\User\Myname\Installs
C:\User\Myname\Downloads
etc

The notepad document was perfectly fine on Friday. I had it on the external drive to be installed on the new one. On Saturday I had to activate windows and after that is when I noticed the document was messed up. But it was and is still on that external drive. I haven't put it on the new PC. It does look to me to be some sort of Asian language. I did find that I have a backup on my laptop which has almost everything on it except for the most recent ones. But now I'm afraid to try and bring it over to the new PC.

As long as you only copy the files, leaving at least one copy in their original locations, you won't lose anything so don't be afraid to try the laptop files.

Today was the first time I've used my gaming PC since getting this new home PC. Now I've turned off sharing on both of them but somehow some of the things I had to download to reinstall on the home PC are showing up also on the gaming PC. I don't understand how that's possible. How are they still talking to each other?

MS tries very hard to push MS accounts when creating a PC account. There is zero need to do this but they will try very hard to push you into making one. This allows them to follow your usage across PC's. It can also allow for syncing of things between PC's if the same MS account gets access to both. This can be convenient, but of course if it's done unknowingly it can also be annoying. This would be my guess as to what is going on.

Thanks for the LibreOffice suggestion, it does open it correctly. So can I save it there? Because when I tried it said I had to choose a format something called 2007 or ODF. I backed out of it since I wasn't sure what that meant.

You likely saved the file in Wordpad originally. Microsoft has discontinued this program in Win 11, telling users to use Notepad (free) for simple files or Word (paid) for more complex test files. Wordpad was useful, but they want to push more people into paying for Office and Word.

LibreOffice is a great suggestion which does 99% of what Word does for free. They also accept donations if you want to help the project.

ODF is a document file type similar to PDF. I don't use it much. You should have many options to save your file from LibreOffice Writer. Win 11 should also be able to print to PDF, which "prints" to a file, not your printer. This is great for record keeping.

I'll look into using a local account for Windows. It said I had to have a pin which I have no idea what it is. I'll see if I can find a video for instructions.

A pin is like as simple password. I've never tried to unlink a local account from a MS account as I've never had a MS account.

If you disable the force account link when setting up an account you won't need a PIN:

How to Install and Log In to Windows 11 Without a Microsoft Account

Maintain only a local account on your Windows 11 PC.

www.tomshardware.com

The article is long but the method is pretty simple.

The other issue I've got is with the Firefox browser. On the Windows 10 machine when I went to the bookmarks button they were all there. When I imported them to the new PC apparently the Windows 11 version handles bookmarks differently. Instead of showing all of them it only shows about 10 or so "recent bookmarks" and even then they aren't recent. I have no idea why it picked them. All of them are over in the bookmarks library and for some reason they are all double listed. I want all of them to show up when I go to that bookmark selector on the right side of the screen.

You may have made changes to Firefox that were not carried over to the new PC. Firefox saves its settings to a folders that you can copy between PC's. Or if you want a slightly simpler method, you can export settings from Firefox itself and copy the exported files across PC's and then import.

The profile folder is here:
C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

 

[Jezza819]

OK good, I wasn't sure if you had a maintained backup or just copied over some files for the transfer. I'd copy important files to the external drive regularly, even after the transfer.

OK I see, no choice in that case.

Yes, you can create your own Photos folder, or any folder you want. Do to permissions issues with Program Files I've maintained my own custom folders Such as

C:\Installs
C:\Downloads
etc

Though I'm typically the only one using my computer so I don't have to worry about user permissions, which are handled automatically when putting files/folders in the C:\<User>\... folders. You might want to put folders in User if other people may use the PC:

C:\User\Myname\Installs
C:\User\Myname\Downloads
etc


As long as you only copy the files, leaving at least one copy in their original locations, you won't lose anything so don't be afraid to try the laptop files.

MS tries very hard to push MS accounts when creating a PC account. There is zero need to do this but they will try very hard to push you into making one. This allows them to follow your usage across PC's. It can also allow for syncing of things between PC's if the same MS account gets access to both. This can be convenient, but of course if it's done unknowingly it can also be annoying. This would be my guess as to what is going on.

You likely saved the file in Wordpad originally. Microsoft has discontinued this program in Win 11, telling users to use Notepad (free) for simple files or Word (paid) for more complex test files. Wordpad was useful, but they want to push more people into paying for Office and Word.

LibreOffice is a great suggestion which does 99% of what Word does for free. They also accept donations if you want to help the project.

ODF is a document file type similar to PDF. I don't use it much. You should have many options to save your file from LibreOffice Writer. Win 11 should also be able to print to PDF, which "prints" to a file, not your printer. This is great for record keeping.

A pin is like as simple password. I've never tried to unlink a local account from a MS account as I've never had a MS account.

If you disable the force account link when setting up an account you won't need a PIN:

How to Install and Log In to Windows 11 Without a Microsoft Account

Maintain only a local account on your Windows 11 PC.

www.tomshardware.com

The article is long but the method is pretty simple.

You may have made changes to Firefox that were not carried over to the new PC. Firefox saves its settings to a folders that you can copy between PC's. Or if you want a slightly simpler method, you can export settings from Firefox itself and copy the exported files across PC's and then import.

The profile folder is here:
C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Someone else suggested to go into Settings>Apps>Startup to see if OneDrive was on and indeed it was so I turned it off. Then he said go to Settings>Apps>InstalledApps to see if OneDrive was still there and it was so I uninstalled it. That got rid of the Onedrive prefix for pictures and now there's nothing in it so I can put my pictures into it. However I just noticed that "Documents" still is listed with that OneDrive label. Shouldn't uninstalling it from installed apps removed it from everywhere?

 

[Jezza819]

OK good, I wasn't sure if you had a maintained backup or just copied over some files for the transfer. I'd copy important files to the external drive regularly, even after the transfer.

OK I see, no choice in that case.

Yes, you can create your own Photos folder, or any folder you want. Do to permissions issues with Program Files I've maintained my own custom folders Such as

C:\Installs
C:\Downloads
etc

Though I'm typically the only one using my computer so I don't have to worry about user permissions, which are handled automatically when putting files/folders in the C:\<User>\... folders. You might want to put folders in User if other people may use the PC:

C:\User\Myname\Installs
C:\User\Myname\Downloads
etc


As long as you only copy the files, leaving at least one copy in their original locations, you won't lose anything so don't be afraid to try the laptop files.

MS tries very hard to push MS accounts when creating a PC account. There is zero need to do this but they will try very hard to push you into making one. This allows them to follow your usage across PC's. It can also allow for syncing of things between PC's if the same MS account gets access to both. This can be convenient, but of course if it's done unknowingly it can also be annoying. This would be my guess as to what is going on.

You likely saved the file in Wordpad originally. Microsoft has discontinued this program in Win 11, telling users to use Notepad (free) for simple files or Word (paid) for more complex test files. Wordpad was useful, but they want to push more people into paying for Office and Word.

LibreOffice is a great suggestion which does 99% of what Word does for free. They also accept donations if you want to help the project.

ODF is a document file type similar to PDF. I don't use it much. You should have many options to save your file from LibreOffice Writer. Win 11 should also be able to print to PDF, which "prints" to a file, not your printer. This is great for record keeping.

A pin is like as simple password. I've never tried to unlink a local account from a MS account as I've never had a MS account.

If you disable the force account link when setting up an account you won't need a PIN:

How to Install and Log In to Windows 11 Without a Microsoft Account

Maintain only a local account on your Windows 11 PC.

www.tomshardware.com

The article is long but the method is pretty simple.

You may have made changes to Firefox that were not carried over to the new PC. Firefox saves its settings to a folders that you can copy between PC's. Or if you want a slightly simpler method, you can export settings from Firefox itself and copy the exported files across PC's and then import.

The profile folder is here:
C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Now I've got a problem. I get to work this morning and sitting on my desktop is that LibreOffice icon. So somehow the work PC and home PC are still communicating. I don't know if it happened before doing the uninstall of One Drive or after, I can't remember when exactly I downloaded it. But I need it gone from the work PC and we don't have access to just go in there and delete it. It says I need admin authority. So if I just go home and uninstall LibreOffice, will it take it off of the work PC or do I need to go back and reinstall OneDrive then uninstall LibreOffice?

 

[Exorcet]

Shouldn't uninstalling it from installed apps removed it from everywhere?

Apparently you may need to disable the One Drive syncing on a per folder basis before removing it. I'm guessing that for some reason Documents is still flagged to be backed up.

If I am right you'll need to reinstall One Drive, then disable syncing for all folders, then uninstall it again.

Now I've got a problem. I get to work this morning and sitting on my desktop is that LibreOffice icon. So somehow the work PC and home PC are still communicating. I don't know if it happened before doing the uninstall of One Drive or after, I can't remember when exactly I downloaded it. But I need it gone from the work PC and we don't have access to just go in there and delete it. It says I need admin authority. So if I just go home and uninstall LibreOffice, will it take it off of the work PC or do I need to go back and reinstall OneDrive then uninstall LibreOffice?

I'm not exactly sure how your two PC's are communicating so it's hard to give an definite answer. Is there any chance that LibreOffice was already there and you just had not noticed before? If you search for "uninstall a program" in the start menu and open the resulting link, you should see LibreOffice in the list with the date of installation. Is it recent?

 

[Jezza819]

Apparently you may need to disable the One Drive syncing on a per folder basis before removing it. I'm guessing that for some reason Documents is still flagged to be backed up.

If I am right you'll need to reinstall One Drive, then disable syncing for all folders, then uninstall it again.


I'm not exactly sure how your two PC's are communicating so it's hard to give an definite answer. Is there any chance that LibreOffice was already there and you just had not noticed before? If you search for "uninstall a program" in the start menu and open the resulting link, you should see LibreOffice in the list with the date of installation. Is it recent?

EDIT Well I panicked too soon. LibreOffice icon is on everybody's PC at work. Apparently since I never used it before I didn't notice it being there. But that does make me a little nervous about using it at home just incase the two pc's are still sharing somehow.

 

[Exorcet]

EDIT Well I panicked too soon. LibreOffice icon is on everybody's PC at work. Apparently since I never used it before I didn't notice it being there. But that does make me a little nervous about using it at home just incase the two pc's are still sharing somehow.

Without One Drive or something similar like Dropbox it seems unlikely. I suppose you can try testing it by making some dummy files in a bunch of different folders. Just create some txt files with the word "test" in them.