Re: New laptop transferring stuff.
I've tried all sorts, over the years, and have settled on Cloning as the most efficient, at the moment.
Each time a new PC arrives, I take out it's Drive and plug it into the older PC (through USB3) and then run the Cloning program (I use Easus) and then sit back for an hour whilst it all does itself.
There are a couple of benefits of doing it this way:-
1) The program actually swings into DOS mode so that the registry can be stopped whilst copying - if you want a perfect copy of the registry you have to have the Registry frozen during the transfer, as it is normally changing constantly by activity in the PC
After cloning Everything will be on the new drive.
2) You end up with a perfect back up disk - so you can keep the old drive as a backup....with most stuff still on it.
The Registry is the key player in all of this. It keeps records of what is installed, and where, (including all the Apps & data - such as password stored, Favorites, etc).
One last point. If you plan to reinstall the apps, individually, on the new box make sure that you run the free Belarc Adviser before you start - it helps to tell you all of those Installation key codes which I often lose and spend ages looking for. Note that you'll have to get any updates again, if you do it this way....if you clone it will be all on anyway.