I am getting a new PC at the weekend and was happily going to pay the Tech Guys thirty quid to transfer the data from my current pc to the new one, but I can't get an appointment.

My PC is crammed with pictures and music and video files and games and other stuff that I will need moving over - at the moment I'm sat here putting all of the pictures on to disc because it can't hurt as a back up - but it's taking AGES, and then I've got to load them on to the new PC.

How do data transfer cables work? This is as simple a question as it sounds, because when it comes to things like this I am that stupid.

I'm currently running on XP and the new PC has Vista on it (sigh) - is it as simple as just plugging the cable into each computer and letting it do its thing? And is there a wizard that will talk me through it? And will the monitor need to be attached to the new or old computer? And can anybody recommend the type of cable I will need at a reasonable price?

Thank you in advance for your help, I know it's a pathetic question but I'm stressing about it

There are several ways you can go about this - with perhaps the easiest being to simply install your old hard drive into your new machine - then your stuff will just be there. You will not be able to "run" any of the old programs because they have not been "installed", that is, all the necessary pointers have not be set into the new Registry, but all the files, including music, videos, photos, etc. will be readily accessible.

Also, Windows has a transfer utility for such purposes - see How to use Windows Easy Transfer to migrate files and settings from one Windows-based computer to another Windows Vista-based computer .