PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant

A newer version of PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant is available.

• 2.0 stars

  "Works only once and onto a 100% fresh new PC"

  May 25, 2010  |   By Michel Merlin

  Pros

  Can save some time in some cases

  Cons

  If you already started using your new PC, then forget about using PCmover

  Summary

  Our dear CNET doesn't escape the usual flaws of large sites: they make a review transferring totally in one round all the stuff from an old PC to a quite virgin new one - which of course will never happen in real life.
  
  I must say that I didn't use the latest version; I bought my PCmover on 27 May 2007 (version number untold), and never could use it, because it requires too many and tight conditions to actually work in the real world:
  
  - it often requires that you upgrade the HD on your new computer, since the old PC probably is bloated with plenty apps and data (if you afford the time to clean your old PC, then you have better migrate by hand than using an automated tool)
  - it requires you to check you have the very last versions of Windows, PCmover and everything just before trying to migrate: another condition that delays and slows the process; the worse being that Laplink doesn't show the version number on its site, and you can't redownload to try, since Laplink limits the number of downloads
  - it requires you have higher level of everything on the newer PC than on the older. Which is sometimes impossible, e.g. some components of MS .Net Framework fail to install on Win XP Pro while they do work on W2K (and the same probably happens from XP to 7).
  - these conditions make you start using the new computer first, which at once renders the migration much more complicated and adds even more conditions, which enters you in a catch-22 where you finally never can use the product. Next time if ever I buy it again (which may happen nevertheless), I will make sure I immediately buy a bigger HD and make at once the whole entire migration, before I do a single bit of work on that new PC. Laplink should only sell this product as bundled with a new PC for one single use on the very first day, and warn of the required big HD.
  - Laplink and CNET (but I wouldn't be too bad to them: this is just what most big software companies have become now, Laplink or CNET are no worse than others) don't understand what customers need or want, or what data reliability is. In facts the IT market still ignore what is well known in more mature markets (like when you shop for a new car, or your wife for curtains): the customer is usually *more* experienced, educated, instructed than the sales or "help desk" person or webmaster; and the less that company guy is instructed, the less he will understand the customer, and the more he will see him/her as *even lower* than him - which in software, badly cripples the normal process of feedback, fixing and improving the product
  - I hope this product gets improved however, but for now it can't really be used unless in cases so simple that such a program would be therefore at best unnecessary, at worse an additional layer of time loss and data loss risk.
  
  Versailles, Tue 25 May 2010 15:45:40 +0200

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2 replies to this review

• Reply by jimpilch on May 26, 2010

  With the advent of "Cloud Computing" programs like this won't be neccesary in the future as everything will be run and stored on a remote server. We won't have or need hard drives in our "terminals" and everyone will be using the same software.

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• Reply by rangerws on May 25, 2010

  I saw an earlier review of this product somewhere (maybe here, maybe another site) and when out to try to find it. Good Luck! The only vendor who even had it referred to (in their catalogue), was Tiger Direct. A trip to their store showed NOONE had even heard of it, and didn't or couldn't offer any more insight. I decided to follow the basic instructions on the Microsoft ewebsite on how to upgrade from XP, and found it was thorough and the upgrade (sic- clean install) went smoothly, even if Dell said my Vostro 1700 was not compatible with Windows 7! I had to download a few drivers (Vista equivalent) but overall, windows 7 works great, and even in 64-bit! My suggestion- Don't waste time with this product.

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