My old computer is simply running out of disc space and I want to to sure to save certain things, such as itunes with play lists, photos, mp3’s, word doc’s, etc. I have an external drive and norton ghost. What is the best way to transfer these to my yet to be bought new computer. Can I do it so that everyting looks and acts the way it used to?
Easiest way is to network the two together. If your router supports more than one PC (most internet routers these days do) just set up a peer-to-peer network and transfer files across that way. Just share the drive(s) on the old PC and use the new one to reach across and grab what you want.
If you do not have a router (or one that supports more than one PC) then buy a crossover cable and plug the computers together that way via their network cards (you’ll have to fiddle with the IP settings to make it work but not hard to do at all).
If you cannot network the two machines then either burn the files to disk or buy a thumb drive and transfer files that way.
You can back up all the data you like to the external drive or via network as Whack-a-Mole suggested, but if you’re after a backup solution that will, upon restore on the new computer, let you resume using the new computer exactly like the old one without having to reinstall your software and re-enter your settings and the like, then I’m afraid you’re pretty much out of luck. Your new computer will undoubtely have much different hardware than your current rig, thus the drivers will also be different. Since a Ghosting will preserve everything of your old system – drivers and all – and restore them in exactly the same way it saved them, you will end up with a computer that just won’t boot because it now has all your old drivers that are invalid on the new system.
The fun of upgrading. 
I just did the same thing myself – bought lots of new components, hoped I could do an XP repair install to preserve the old working state on the new hardware, but it turns out the new hardware was just too different for a repair install to cope with. So, once I buy a new hard drive this weekend I’ll be doing a completely clean install myself and starting over.
If networking doesn’t work out, and you have too much stuff to burn to disk or use thumb drives, one method I have used several times in the past was to take the HD out of the old computer, switch it to a slave drive using the jumpers, and hook it up to the new one. Boot, add it as a new drive letter, and simply transfer files between the drives. This involves opening up cases and fiddling around with components, so depending on your level of experience it might not be your cuppa tea.