>My daughter's laptop has become flaky to the point that I don't trust it and want to replace it before she goes back to Milwaukee for spring semester. Any recommendations on the most painless way to transfer her data files, desktop, and so on to the new laptop without having to reinstall everything? In this case I bet there really is a magic wand.

Hi Mike

I agree with Kevin.

Its a good chance for a clear out and you'll get a better result. It can be a problem if you haven't kept all the original discs etc for installing but thats a good lesson in housekeeping :-)

I've resurrected my childrens old machines on occasion with a complete clear out and buying some extra RAM.