Go out and buy a brand new Windows 10 PC and it usually ships configured with a host of trial software, often sponsored by the software manufacturer, to encourage you to switch to an alternative office suite, security or photo management tool.

You could spend time migrating all your data manually. Out of the box, Windows makes it relatively easy to transfer your preferences across to your new machine. The problem starts when you have a host of installed applications and want to get these transferred and setup as quickly as possible.

One solution is Laplink PCmover, which has been around for eons. In fact, a basic Express version is recommended by Microsoft. But, Express is very simple, costs $15 and won’t migrate installed applications. An alternative is EaseUS Todo PCTrans 9.8, which is a tool designed to migrate data from an old PC to new computer.

Where PCTrans excels is its ability to save your data to an image file. You can then simply load this image file on your new computer and migrate your data very swiftly. Alternatively, like PCmover, you can choose a computer on your network and migrate. Once you’ve chosen your migration option, PCTrans will evaluate your current system and inform you of the applications it thinks it can migrate successfully.

PCTrans will show the apps that can (or cannot) be migrated

And this is where we advise caution. Migrating installed applications is an art rather than a science. It doesn’t always work fully. You might find the application migrates successfully, but forgets your preferences. Nearly always you will need to activate on the new computer, so make sure you deactivate on your current computer first. Migrating security software is nearly impossible, so avoid these tools entirely.

The free version of PCTrans will transfer only two installed applications (which is two more than Laplink PCmover Express), but you could save this option for software that is hard to find or even unavailable. If you have old software you cannot find anywhere (and assuming it will work on your new PC), these tools are the priority for migration. The Professional version of PCTrans is currently available for $49.95, will install an unlimited number of applications and can allow migrations to two computers.

It’s also worth noting that we would advocate migrating your applications manually, where possible. By ‘migrating’ here we mean finding the installer on your favourite download site and then installing on your new computer. Of course, we realise this isn’t always a swift process, or practical, but it’s always the cleanest and likely to be problem-free.

Download EaseUS ToDO PCTrans Free 9.8.