Does Windows Easy Transfer result in a slow computer?

Question

OK, so I'm having a dispute with somebody in my company that vehemently believes that copying a users files from one computer to a new computer using Windows Easy Transfer will somehow result in a bogged down system. He doesn't have any explanation or evidence to back it up, but he (the CEO actually) definitely believes it.

As the IT manager, I feel that he is completely in the wrong here. Not only does it not slow down the computer, but it ultimately results in a better user experience as the end user isn't required to set up their system from scratch again, and results in less support calls to my team. Additionally, I feel that his beliefs lands in the gray area of "Registry Cleaning" type ordeals.

Can anybody back me up here?

Answer 1

Transferring the files over the network might slow the network down but only as long as the files are being transferred. I would recommend using an external hard drive to make the move.

Otherwise, no, it makes no difference.

I have done it multiple times over the past few years and it has worked very well. The most recent version of the program works even better than previous iterations.

I agree with you that it saves time and effort doing all of the customizations again.

Answer 2

Here's an answer that might satisfy him:

No, Windows Easy Transfer won't slow down the new machine because it only transfers files and settings, not programs. It's having too many programs installed that are running background processes that slow down a computer - not having too many files or settings. The only way having too many files could slow down your computer is if the hard drive is too full (we're talking >95% here) or if the files are too badly fragmented (disk defragmenting is automatic in newer versions of Windows).

FAQ site: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/transferring-files-and-settings-frequently-asked-questions (doesn't directly answer your question, but does say what is transferred).

Answer 3

I know this is an old question but since it comes up high in Google I thougth I put my two cents in.

I've only used Easy Transfer twice. Between two Windows 7 systems it worked like a dream with the usb cable.

On tranfering from XP to Windows 7 via a small network, only about 1/3 of the accounts were seen by "Easy Transfer" and once the copy was done the system ran like a dog. The transfer was 14GB. Something that took 3 seconds before turned into 30+. I even created a new account thinking the problem might only be with the transfered ones and the same slow speeed. I got to thinking that maybe the process of tranfering the files fragmented the drive. I tried analyzing the C drive and it got to 19% and hung. With nothing running it sounds like the drive is being used a lot.