Failing that approach, track down the path to your mail folder. When you have tracked down the folders, copy them to a disk and reload them to your new system. You may find that you can't remember your mail settings. But there are a few things you have to know to set up your new mail client. Here's a quick checklist of what you need:. If you can't remember the password, don't worry. There are some downloadable utilities that can decrypt this for you. Just do a Google search to track them down.
Export your address book to a spreadsheet. Not only does this allow you to import it into your new mail client, but viewing the information in a spreadsheet makes it easy to clear out all those old contacts that are no longer valid.
I forgot to do this and had the awful job of unplugging my new PC and setting up the old one to extract information. It's easy to forget to load an effective antivirus package. While you're preparing all the stuff you need to transfer, download the latest updates and add them to the CD. This will mean you can protect your PC before connecting to the Internet. Essential when you consider that according to one report, an unprotected computer will, on average, have to be connected for less than 12 minutes before being attacked by some kind of virus or malware.
As with 7, there are many packages to install. Make sure that you have everything ready to load when you unpack the new box. Most modern browsers claim to block ads for you. With top-quality motherboards and cases, all the holes line up perfectly. With cheap products, that's not always true. At times, we've been forced to use only a few screws to secure the motherboard.
We prefer to use all of them, both to physically support the motherboard and to make sure all of the grounding points are in fact grounded, but if you simply can't get all of the holes lined up, just install as many screws as you can.
Typical front panel connector pinouts image courtesy of Intel Corporation. Your motherboard might use different pinouts, so make sure to verify the correct pinouts before you connect the cables. The Power Switch and Reset Switch connectors are not polarized, and can be connected in either orientation.
The Hard Drive Activity LED is polarized, and should be connected with the ground usually black wire on Pin 3 and the signal usually red or white wire on Pin 1. Use whichever is appropriate. Although Intel has defined a standard front-panel connector block and uses that standard for its own motherboards, few other motherboard makers adhere to that standard.
Accordingly, rather than provide an Intel-standard monolithic connector block that would be useless for motherboards that do not follow the Intel standard, most case makers provide individual 1-, 2-, or 3-pin connectors for each switch and indicator. Not all cases have cables for every connector on the motherboard, and not all motherboards have connectors for all cables provided by the case.
For example, the case might provide a speaker cable, but the motherboard might have a built-in speaker and no connection for an external speaker. Conversely, the motherboard might provide connectors for features, such as a Chassis Intrusion Connector, for which no corresponding cable exists on the case; those connectors go unused.
Sometimes you'll encounter a situation where a 2-wire cable has a 3-pin connector, with the wires connected to pins 1 and 3. If the motherboard has a similar connector, there's no problem, but sometimes that cable needs to connect to a motherboard connector with two adjacent pins. Some motherboards provide an alternative 3-pin connector, but many do not.
In that case, the best solution is to use a sharp knife or shears to cut the 3-pin connector in half, leaving you with two wires with individual connectors. When you're connecting front-panel cables, try to get it right the first time, but don't worry too much about getting it wrong. Other than the power switch cable, which must be connected properly for the system to start, none of the other front-panel switch and indicator cables is essential, and connecting them wrong won't damage the system.
Switch cables—power and reset—are not polarized. You can connect them in either orientation, without worrying about which pin is signal and which ground.
Most cases use a common wire color, usually black, for ground, and a colored wire for signal. Most cases provide one or two frontpanel USB 2. To route USB to the front panel, you must connect a cable from each frontpanel USB port to the corresponding internal connector.
Figure shows the standard Intel pinouts for the internal front-panel USB connectors, which are also used by most other motherboard makers. With such a case, connecting the front-panel USB ports is a simple matter of plugging that monolithic connector into the header pins on the motherboard. Unfortunately, some cases instead provide eight individual wires, each with a single connector. Figure shows Robert finally getting all eight individual wires connected to the proper pins.
Yes, we know it looks as though Robert is sliding a single 4-pin connector onto the header pins, but trust us, those are four individual wires.
The best way Robert found to get all the wires connected properly was to clamp the four wires between his fingers aligned as a single connector and then slide the group of connectors onto the header pins.
And the second group of four is much harder to get onto the pins than the first set. Several of our tech reviewers are we the only ones who didn't think of this? Years ago, connecting an audio cable from the optical drive to the motherboard audio connector or sound card was an essential step, because systems used the analog audio delivered from the optical drive by that cable. If you didn't connect that cable, you didn't get audio from the drive. All recent optical drives and motherboards support digital audio, which is delivered across the bus rather than via a dedicated audio cable.
Few optical drives or motherboards include an analog audio cable nowadays, because one is seldom needed. The "Enable digital CD audio…" checkbox should be marked. If it is not, mark the checkbox to enable digital audio. Also, some older audio applications do not support digital audio, and so require an analog audio cable to be installed even if the system supports digital audio.
We suggest that you install an audio cable only if needed. Otherwise, you can do without. The next step is to reconnect the drive data cables to the motherboard interfaces, as shown in Figure and Figure Make sure to connect each data cable to the proper interface. See Chapters 7 and 8 for details.
After you connect the drive data cables, don't just leave them flopping around loose. That not only looks amateurish, but can impede air flow and cause overheating. Tuck the cables neatly out of the way, using tape, cable ties, or tiewraps to secure them to the case.
If necessary, temporarily disconnect the cables to route them around other cables and obstructions, and reconnect them once you have them positioned properly. The next step is to reconnect the power connectors from the power supply to the motherboard. The Main ATX Power Connector is a pin or pin connector, usually located near the right front edge of the motherboard. Locate the corresponding cable coming from the power supply, verify that the cable is aligned properly with the connector, and press the cable firmly until it seats fully, as shown in Figure Although RAM is easy to add or change, your system will take only a few kinds of memory.
You need to look in your computer owner's manual to see what kind of RAM your computer requires. Adding more RAM will allow you to move around in large files more easily. Additional memory will also make your browser more responsive. If you're having trouble opening large files and documents or if you're getting messages that say you're out of room when you try to save photos, music, or movies, you should look into upgrading your storage drive. If you currently have a hard drive, consider upgrading to a solid state drive.
You can access your information much faster with an SSD, and because of the technology in how information is stored, solid state drives don't have problems with data fragmentation like hard drives do. If you already have an SSD, there have been advances in technology that allow for more storage and faster reading and writing. Either way, it's not hard to replace your storage drive.
Mark Kyrnin is a former Lifewire writer and computer networking and internet expert who also specializes in computer hardware. Updated on July 08, Michael Barton Heine Jr. Lifewire Technology Review Board Member. Article reviewed on Dec 08, Tweet Share Email. In This Article. Upgrade or Replace? Video Cards. The 10 Best RAM of The 4 Best Graphics Cards of The 7 Best Processors of Was this page helpful?
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